Below the Sahara (1953)

Armand Denis: Armand Denis

Quotes 

• Armand Denis : Michaela has taught our native boys to do wondrous things, whether it be making home baked bread or roast venison.

• [first lines] 

  Armand Denis : This was to be a hunting expedition. But, this safari was to be quite unlike those made by others in this greatest of all the world's hunting grounds. We'd be taking aim at living targets. But, our shooting would be done not with guns, but, with cameras. Our trophies on color film would be alive and more permanent than any stuffed heads hung on the walls of a trophy room.

• Armand Denis : Cairo, gateway to the barbaric splendors of ancient Egypt, gateway to a world of adventure.

• Armand Denis : Africa is our business. Some of our objectives we had already planned, such as a return to my old gorilla capture country. Other adventures would be - well, in Africa you take them as you find them - or, as they find you.

• Armand Denis : Africa - the very name is exciting, *savage*, mysterious. I, Armand Denis, have returned to Africa again and again over the years; never, without a deep thrill of all the senses.

• Armand Denis : This was the first time the chief had seen himself in a mirror. My wristwatch was equally fascinating. They thought a cricket was imprisoned inside. The simplest things invoked amazement and amusement among these people who seldom get close to the weird ways of the white man.

• Armand Denis : Flying over game country is the best way to realize the wealth of wildlife which still survives in immense Africa. You feel as if the pages of time had been turned back to a more primitive age, when animals roamed the tropical earth in their countless thousands, before man, the enemy, man, the ravager and destroyer had been born.

• Armand Denis : Gobble, gobble, gobble. He who works the fastest, will get the mostest.

• Armand Denis : African natives, emotional and fun-loving, need little excuse for a jumbo dancing party.

• Armand Denis : We are on the move again, heading for the jungle on a strange safari. We are going to witness a war. Not of men, but, a war between man and the gorilla. A tribe to the west has been waging a constant battle with the huge apes, which are numerous in the forest. Now, the gorillas have twice raided a village, killed two children, and the tribe has sworn a war to the death.

• Armand Denis : We have to keep going. This time, picturesquely, by native dugout. All complete with witchdoctor in leopard skin to keep away the evil eye, drummers to beat time, and many paddlers. We must get to gorilla country.

• Armand Denis : Before us unfolds the dramatic spectacle of Africa. This is wild animal country and we sense the danger which is all around us. For life here is never placid. The cycle is violence followed by uneasy truce.

• Armand Denis : Simba rarely kills on a full stomach, generally hunts at night, and only for food, not for lust of blood.

• Armand Denis : The river is crawling with crocs and hippos. There is a chance of unusual pictures if we risk the hazards of the trip without our noisy native helpers.

• [last lines] 

  Armand Denis : You never really leave Africa, you take it with you, knowing that someday you must return to the endlessly fascinating land that lies below the Sahara.