Description
Object description
Film showing the harvesting, milling and transport of rice from Siam (Thailand) to other countries in south east Asia.
Full description
Reel 1: A lone farmer in a field cutting paddy by hand with a sickle; focus is soft and the film is overexposed. Series of further shots (with focus and exposure corrected) showing the technique as he cuts the paddy and ties it into sheaves. A simple sledge drawn by a water buffalo is piled wih bundled paddy before the buffalo is led away. People carry bundles of paddy on yokes over a narrow plank bridge. People set down their paddy at a central storage area; they appear amused (by the cameraman's interest?). A small flat-bottomed punt or similar is used to transport paddy along a channel. Dim interior footage of a sieving machine. Several views of the machine. Footage taken from a vessel on a river, probably the Chao Phraya in Bangkok, looking towards a large merchantman apparently being loaded with rice. Small craft on the river. Various shots of bundles of cut paddy being stacked in a circle with close-ups. A large camouflage-painted building on the riverfront. At a riverside loose rice is loaded from boats into shallow wicker baskets carried on yokes. A man checks rice by tossing a small quantity on a wicker tray. He then rolls some rice under a pestle or rolling pin before transferring them back to the tray and tossing them again to remove husks. Men pass through a warehouse carrying sacks of rice; as they pass (a foreman or supervisor?) they are handed a wooden stick. They return the sticks to a man by the exit of the warehouse to enable the number of sacks to be tallied. Close-up of a sack marked 'SRU [Siam Rice Unit] 100%' A barge laden with sacks is pushed off, presumably for transfer to a larger vessel. After trampling by buffalo rice is swept and raked to remove chaff and other material. Chaff is raked up. A broad wooden paddle is pulled by people hauling on a rope to pile the winnowed rice.
Full description
Reel 2: Men with baskets on yokes. A man shakes a tray of rice before laying it out on a table for inspection by an older (and presumably senior) man. Closer shot; the old man spreads the rice into a neat layer. Notes about the rice are jotted down in a thick notebook or ledger. A man silhouetted against the outside light tosses rice in a tray. Rice is rolled with a pestle or rolling pin. A stream of porters walks into and out of a warehouse carrying yokes. Local civilians use of a simple handcranked winnowing machine. Rice is poured into the top of the machine. Winnowed rice is gathered up using a large hoe. Standing behind the machine chaff and dust blow towards the cameraman. A man hefts a basket of rice onto his shoulder. Wide shot showing sacks of rice being hoisted from a barge or lighter to a larger merchant ship. Closer shot of sacks being hoisted aboard. Shot from a moving vessel passing a number of small warehouses with a barge tied up outside. Various shots of sacks being put aboard a barge by porters. Close shot, quite dark, of rice coming out of a machine via a chute. A sifting machine going back and forth. Closer shot. Dim shot of a millwheel. Unusably dark shot of some part of the machine. A civilian man leading an uninterested water buffalo. The buffalo tramples the cut paddy. Two buffalos are used to trample the rice. Shot of the buffalo driver. People forking over paddy.
Physical description
35mm