As with previous films made with Admiralty co-operation, such as Britain’s Birthright (1924), The Voyage of the Ashanti uses the framework of a goodwill trip to encourage naval recruitment, highlight British supremacy, and demonstrate the continued work of, and support for, the British imperial power. This message takes on particular resonance as the film was released in England in the summer of 1939, barely a month before Britain declared war on Germany.

The film positions the viewer on board the ship – ‘we’re doing about 20 knots’ – and evidently serves partly as a recruiting film, as the voiceover states ‘Join the Navy and see the world in style’, and ‘Few can tell them [stories] better than those who joined the Navy’.

The ship itself though serves to highlight continued British strength, as teachers, children and chiefs visit the ship and, according to the commentary, ‘pass along in dumb amazement’. In stressing British strength, the film emphasises the differences between the British and the Africans. The British are aligned with modern development – ‘in the shops native and modern articles contrast strangely’ – while ethnographic sequences at the Durbar depict local traditions. There are not only cultural differences between the British and the Africans, but, as the earlier ‘dumb amazement’ suggested, a mutual incomprehension here.The Africans view the sailors with ‘great curiosity’ while the appearance of a chief is described as a ‘bizarre sight’.

The differences and cultural assumptions are used to generate comedy. For example, the British commentator adopts an African accent as he asks ‘what are you all looking at man?’ over the image of a local man staring at the camera. However, in offering a traditional representation of a largely ‘undeveloped’ Africa – the local market has an ‘indescribable odour’ – the film also promotes the need for continued British assistance within Africa. The historical influence of the British is prioritised at the film’s opening – ‘in 1833 the British abolished slavery’ – while the film outlines the British policy of indirect rule and the co-operation between the chiefs and the ‘local British authorities’.

The Voyage of the Ashanti highlights differences between the British and Africans, but it ultimately proclaims a message of imperial unity. On two occasions, the commentary claims – again speaking on behalf of the Africans – that the ‘natives’ are ‘enormously proud’ of the ship. When the locals visit the ship, the commentator notes that nothing was put under lock and key and ‘nothing was stolen’, in an attempt to highlight the mutual partnership between these two disparate groups.

This imperial pride and loyalty takes on particular significance in the context of a potential war. The film shows the Gold Coast regimental band performing beneath the British flag, while the commentary later notes that ‘the men of the Gold Coast regiment are among the finest native troops in the world’. Furthermore, when the governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Alan Hudson, sits down to meet the local chiefs, the commentator asserts that ‘Never again will the Ashanti war drums beat against the British’. The film promotes a united imperial force, and certainly the film’s conclusion – in which the previously jocular commentary talks of responding to whatever may happen in the future – recognises the fresh problems and responses facing both the navy and the British Empire. 

Tom Rice (May 2008)