Errol Hinds

(b. 24/07/1908 – d. 08/10/1980). Cinematographer, Director, Producer. Errol Stanley Hinds was the brother-in-law of Major Chaplin Court Treatt and was only 16 years old when he accompanied Court Treatt and his (second) wife Stella (Errol’s sister) on the first motorised expedition across the length of Africa, from September 1924 to January 1926. The epic journey was filmed by Canadian-born Thomas A. Glover and was subsequently released under the title Cape to Cairo. A shortened, re-edited version with an added soundtrack was released in 1934.

Hinds must have been inspired by Glover as he himself went on to shoot two other films for Court Treatt, namely Stampede (1929) (sound version Africa in Flames/1930) and Struggle for life (1935), both in Sudan. Some of the footage from Stampede found its way into the film Stark Nature (1930), directed by Arthur Woods. Hinds is said to have worked in Great Britain as an assistant cameraman on Maurice Elvey’s The Clairvoyant (1935) and then went to Australia on a two years’ contract to National Studios. Here he worked as camera operator on Miles Mander‘s The Flying Doctor (1936) and afterwards as director of photography on Clarence Badger’s Rangle River (1936). He returned to South Africa in 1938.

During World War II he served as a staff cameraman with the Bureau of Information and in November 1941 he was with the 1st South African Division during the battle of Sidi Rezegh. When he realised that he was unlikely to escape, he buried the negative in the desert and after the battle the film was dug up, taken to Cairo, developed in South Africa and, in March 1942, shown in cinemas throughout the country, including the Curzon in Johannesburg, where he had been a former manager (1942).

After the war Hinds joined African Film Productions and directed a number of documentaries for the State Information Office, amongst them South African Cavalcade (1952), Fisherfolk of Kalk Bay (1955), The Bride Wore Pearls (with Kurt Baum) (1957), The Wild Are Free (1958) and Saturday Parade (1960). As executive producer he also worked with the likes of Bladon Peake, Emil Nofal, Basil Mailer, Gordon Vorster and Raymond Hancock on many other AFP/SASIO shorts. He also contributed photographs to the book “Alger-Le Cap” by Marcelle Goetze, from the film of the same name by Serge de Poligny (1951) (FO)

(Note: South Africa's Errol Hinds should not be confused with an American filmmaker with the same name.)

CREDITS

DOCUMENTARIES (as cinematographer)

Stampede / Africa in flames (C. Court Treatt & Stella Court Treatt/1929), Struggle for life (C. Court Treatt/1935), Oproep! (with G.F. Noble, Frank Dixon & Leon Schauder), Historic Record (1942), Lions at Play (1955) (with Frank Dixon, Peter Lang & David Millin), Colourful Courtship / Ndebele Troue (Kurt Baum/1956) (+ associate director)

DOCUMENATRIES (as director)

Glimpses of South Africa No. 5 (1951) (shown at Cannes Film Festival 1952), South African Cavalcade / Suid-Afrikaanse Kavalkade (1952), Fisherfolk of Kalk Bay / Vissers van Kalkbaai (1955) (shown at Cannes Film Festival 1956), The Bride Wore Pearls (1957) (with Kurt Baum) (shown at Cannes Film Festival 1957), The Wild Are Free / Ons Wild Is Vry (1958), Saturday Parade / Saterdag Parade (1960)

DOCUMENARIES (as producer)

Transvaal story (Bladon Peake/1949) (as executive producer), The Twenty Thousand / Die Twintig-Duisend (Emil Nofal/1953) (as executive producer), More Precious Than Gold / Kosbaarder As Goud (Emil Nofal/1953) (as executive producer), South Africa: Champion Country / Suid-Afrika: Kampioeneland (1955) (as executive producer), Tickets Please! / Kaartjies Asseblief! (Emil Nofal/1955) (as co-associate producer with Harold C. Weaver), Fishermen of Skeleton Coast / Die Vissers van die Dodekus (Emil Nofal/1956) (as executive producer), South African Mosaic / Suid-Afrikaanse Mosaiek (Basil Mailer/1956) (as co-associate producer with W.J. van Dalsen), South African Panorama No. 1 (Gordon Vorster/1957) (as executive producer), The Vaal River Story / Die Vaalrivier (Gordon Vorster/1957) (as co-associate producer with W.J. van Dalsen), They Came To Stay / Eie Bodem (Basil Mailer/1958) (as co-producer with W.J. van Dalsen). The Face of South Africa / Ewebeeld van Suid-Afrika (Raymond Hancock/1960) (co-associate producer with Malcolm Lomberg), Impression of Another land (Raymond Hancock/1960) (as executive producer), South West Africa: the Timeless Land / Suidwes-Africa: die Tydlose Land (Raymond Hancock/1961) (as producer), Workshop of a Continent (Raymond Hancock/1961) (as executive producer), W.H. Coetzer (Ralph Loubser/1964) (as executive producer)

FEATURES (as cinematographer)

The Clairvoyant (Maurice Elvey/1934) (uncredited), The Flying Doctor (Miles Mander/1936), Rangle River (Clarence Badger/1936)

Sources

The Forum, 21 March 1942

Court Treatt, Stella - Cape to Cairo: the record of a historic motor journey

Low, Rachel - Films of comment and persuasion of the 1930s

Pike, Andrew & Cooper, Ross - Australian film 1900-1977

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