Amateur film by Major Edwin Chapman-Andrews, with full descriptive titles, shot while based on the staff of the C-in-C Middle East as Liaison Officer with Emperor Haile Selassie .

Film covers the campaign by static recording of succession of scenes: military training of Ethiopian and Eritrean volunteers in the Sudan, main figures in entourage of Emperor (Chapman-Andrews himself, Wilfred Thesiger of the Sudan Defence Force, Chief Political Adviser to the Emperor Colonel Daniel Sandford, Major Ronald Critchley accompanying Haile Selassie's two sons the Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen and Prince Makonnen Duke of Harar, Colonel Wingate as Military Commander of Gideon Force, Major Donald Nott), Ethiopian troops at various locations (Soba near Khartoum, Um Idla, Abu Wendi, Belaia, Affidavit Camp on Dinder River, Belaia, Waterfall Camp at Engia Barra, Dejajmach Mengesha, Burie, Dejajmach Negash, Jigga, Dembecha, Debra Marcos, Adjebar, Addis Ababa), Ethiopian tribal leaders with their warriors (headman of Gumz people, Ras Hailu, Ras Seyum), defeat and capture of Italian forces (ambushed armoured cars of Burie Garrison, Italian prisoners of war, surrender of Jimma to General Foulkes, surrender by General Bertello at Beletta, lowering of Italian flag and raising of Ethiopian flag). "And so, by midsummer of 1941, Ethiopia regains its rightful independence."

Notes

Summary: although the 16mm cameraman generally either overexposes or underexposes scenes, often recorded at some distance from the lens, this inside account of the campaign provides a detailed and accurate record of events preceding Haile Selassie's entry into Addis Ababa. As such it is a valuable complement to LION OF JUDAH (1941), which although professionally shot on 35mm really only has specific film coverage of the entry into the capital and associated ceremonies.

Production: film accompanied by typed list of numbered titles "Titles for Abyssinian Picture" with covering pencilled note from Ministry of Information, London, dated 28 October 1942 and signed CS: "Please keep this title list for Major Chapman Andrews' guidance."

Date: Kodak stock date is UK 1941. Original print, with titles cut in.