Although Castles and Fisher Folk was, as the final title notes, prepared for Cadbury’s, it makes no other mention of either the company or the cocoa industry and elides Cadbury’s economic interest within the area. However, the film does promote an idealised image of the Gold Coast, of contented locals and, in particular, of the positive role of the British within the area, in bringing peace and change to the Gold Coast.

The commentary presents a history of West Africa, in which the British appear as peacemakers, transforming an area of fighting and destruction into one of peace. The castles appear as symbols of this change, as the opening commentary explains that they were ‘once fortresses’ in the 15^th century when a number of countries were fighting for control of West Africa, but ‘now the Union Jack floats peacefully over those fantastic castles’. Later a local walks ‘out on the battlements where before only the power of bloodshed ruled the land’. The British have further developed the area – for example the Castle at Cape Coast was ‘built by the Portuguese and later enlarged by the English’ – and furthermore, the film suggests that, in contrast to its previous historical struggles, the country positively embraces and welcomes the British involvement. This is most blatantly revealed as the commentator describes a ‘native boy [who] comes out to learn his English grammar’.

The second half of the film focuses on the locals and their fishing industry. In doing so, it focuses on the physicality of the local populations in a way that is consistent with the visual tropes of colonial discourse. This is evident for example in the close-ups of the men pulling in the boats – a shot subsequently reused in the GPO film God’s Chillun (1938) – and also in the sequence showing the naked children running into the sea. These children are shown laughing and smiling at the camera, as the film promotes an image of a happy local community. The historical background offered in the first half of the film creates a context for these shots, aligning the peaceful and joyous activities of the children and fishermen with the introduction of British rule.

The commentary, spoken earnestly by an actor more accustomed to the dialogue of Shakespeare, offers a highly romanticised account of the work of the British within the area. This is evident in the final lines as the commentator states that ‘the palm trees shimmer in the evening light, the breakers beat out echoes of the past, of bloodshed, of cruelty, of slavery forever ended in these days when the forgotten fortress is a resting house, where the Englishman can shelter for the night as he journeys through on his official round to find out how best to care for and help the native races of West Africa’. Here, all of the components within the film come together: the poetic language – ‘the palm trees shimmer’; the clear contrast between the previous European rule – bloodshed, cruelty and slavery ­– and the modern British counterpart; the image of the castle as a symbol of this change – ‘the forgotten fortress is a resting house’; and finally the endorsement of paternalistic British rule and development, as the British officials seek to ‘care for and help the native races of West Africa’.

Tom Rice (September 2008)