Didja Notice?
As in
"Trek of Doom", the scenes in
Port Gentil were shot at Lamu, Kenya and Lamu Fort.
The sign on the exterior wall of the French building Indy and
Remy walk out of at 47:06 on the DVD reads "QUARTIER GÉNÉRAL,
PORT GENTIL." Quartier général is French for
"headquarters".
The tricolor blue, white, and red flag of
France is seen outside the French Army headquarters in Port
Gentil at 47:13 on the DVD. It is also seen on Sloat's steamer.
Arguing with Remy about going back up the river to deliver the
newly-acquired guns to the Belgian Army in East Africa, Indy
tells him that
Colonel Mathieu and Major Boucher put their faith in him to get
those guns delivered. This occurred in
"Trek of Doom".
Indy's boat is taken in by the men at
Albert Schweitzer Hospital on the Ogooué river (first glimpsed
in "Trek of Doom"). Dr.
Schweitzer's assistant
Joseph Azowani was also a real life figure, though very little is
known about him.
Albert Schweitzer Hospital opened in 1913. The primitive
hospital village seen here was a set built for shooting the two
episodes on the bank of the Tana River in Kenya.
As the camera approaches Indy's hospital bed at 54:21 on the
DVD, notice that the water in the glass sitting on top of a
crate next to the bed quivers. Then it stops when the camera
stops. It seems the water was intercepting the vibrations of the
camera operator's footsteps!
When Dr. Schweitzer comes upon him trying to
rewire the detonator on the boat, Indy grabs up a rifle and
says, "Back away, Fritz, I'm taking this boat and leaving."
"Fritz" was a common derogative nickname given to German troops
by the Entente powers during WWI.
The rifle Indy picks up appears to be a
Mauser
Gewehr 1898.
When Indy tells him he's staying on the boat, Schweitzer
exclaims, "Mein Gott, was fur idiot! So ein holzkopf!"
This is German for "My God, what an idiot! Such a blockhead!"
Dr. Schweitzer's wife was Helene Schweitzer (1879-1957), a
medical missionary, nurse, social worker, sociologist, and
feminist.
Helene greets Indy with "Guten abend," and tea.
"Guten abend,"
is German for "Good evening."
Dr. Schweitzer jokingly gives Indy a couple new nicknames,
"Captain Dynamite" and "Scourge of the Kaiser". Kaiser,
of course, is the German word for "emperor".
Remy loses two toes due to jiggers in this episode. Jiggers are
a very tiny species of flea whose female members burrow under the
skin.
When Indy apologizes to Remy for making his remaining men begin
the deadly return trek to Belgian East Africa, Remy says,
"C'est la vie." This is French for "That's life."
During Indy's dinner with the Schweitzers, Dr. Schweitzer plays
a Bach piece on piano and his wife boasts that he was a renowned
recitalist and lecturer and held degrees in philosophy,
theology, and medicine and had written books on all those
subjects. This is true.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a
renowned German composer. The bust on Schweitzer's piano appears
to be of Bach. The piece Schweitzer plays here is "Jesu, Joy of
Man's Desiring"; versions of this piece are heard intermittently
throughout the rest of the episode.
The three books Indy spies on the Schweitzers' bookshelf,
J.S. Bach, Bach: Musician and Poet, and Paul
and his Interpreters are all actual books written by Dr.
Schweitzer.
Explaining why he's in Africa doing what he's doing,
Dr. Schweitzer tells Indy that one's talents must be applied
"...in the service of humanity. God gives us talents for that
very purpose. Not to use them is the gravest sin of all." Indy
rejoins, "Moses must have left that one out." He is referring,
of course, to the ten commandments given by God to Moses at Mt.
Sinai in the Old Testament of the Bible.
When
Dr. Schweitzer gives his pebble analogy, he ends with, "I save
you. Nicht wahr?" Nicht wahr is German for "Is
that not true?"
When
Dr. Schweitzer asks Indy if he plays piano, Indy responds that
he had lessons but he was not very good and they proceed to play
"Chopsticks" (from 1877, by Euphemia Allen). In
"Enough is Barely Living",
Indy told Giacomo Puccini that he'd had lessons from a Mrs.
Schwartz.
As Schweitzer and Indy get into
playing piano, Schweitzer announces to his observing wife, "And
now, meine Damen und Herren, we present the finest duet
recital in the whole province of Gabon." Meine
Damen und Herren is German for "ladies and gentlemen."
Gabon was a province of French Equatorial Africa; in 1960, it
became an independent republic.
Indy volunteers Sloat's steamboat, the Collette, to
take
Dr. Schweitzer upriver to tend to the son of the chief of the
Pahouin tribe. The Pahouin are an actual tribe in Central
Africa. They engage in the practice of sharpening their teeth
into points as seen here.
At 1:07:37 on the DVD, the Collette takes off upriver
(against the flow) as it should to travel to the
Pahouin village. But, at 1:07:48, the boat is shown moving
downriver (with the flow). It could be that this sequence was
meant to take place originally on the return trip to the hospital
but was moved in post-production to tighten up the story flow.
In the comic book adaptation, this scene and the later
"Reverence for Life" scene are together, during the boat's
return trip.
Dr. Schweitzer tells Indy that his father (Louis Schweitzer, a
Lutheran pastor) wrote to him recently of a French effort to
capture a German position in the Lingenkopf, which is a mountain
nearby. There were several battles around the Lingenkopf area.
The
"Reverence for Life" philosophy
Dr. Schweitzer tells Indy he's formulated is one that won him
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. He wrote about this philosophy in
the 1923 book Civilization and Ethics. A basic
understanding of "Reverence for Life" is that good consists in
maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life (evil is that which
seeks to destroy, to harm, or to hinder life). As he tells Indy
here, he actually did become inspired by this "Reverence for
Life" concept while travelling down the Ogooué River in 1915.
Captain Rostand informs the Schweitzers and Indy that all German
nationals in French territory are to be deported back to Europe
by order of Senator Clemenceau. Georges
Clemenceau (1841-1929) was an influential senator of the town of
Draguignan, France and was a former (and future) prime minister
of France.
Although the forced evacuation of the Schweitzers
actually did take place, it was not until November 1917, not
January as seen here.
Indy tells
Captain Rostand that the Collette is filled with
weapons bound for Lake Tanganyika and which are desperately
needed for the assault on
Tabora
and he wants Rostand's men to provide an escort east. Lake
Tanganyika is a large lake covering parts of Tanzania, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Zambia. Indy has
his men cross going westward to pick up the weapons in "Trek of Doom"
(the then-upcoming assault on Tabora was also mentioned in that
episode). In the real world, the actual assault on Tabora took
place in September.
It's hard to read, but it looks like the name on the front of
the French patrol boat that arrives at the hospital dock to take
the Schweitzer's away is La Vaillante (The Valiant).
 |
Notes from the comic
book adaptation of this episode
The Young Indiana Jones
Chronicles #8
Dark Horse Comics
Script by Dan Barry
Pencils by Gordon Purcell
Inks by Ian Akin
Letters by Gail Beckett
Colors by
Rachelle Menashe
September 1992
|
Didja Notice?
On page 3, Remy says "Mon Dieu!" This is French for "My God!"
On page 5, Remy shouts at imaginary enemies, "Salauds!"
This is French for "Bastards!"
On page 6, Indy says, "Adieu, Remy...bon ami...adi...?!!"
This is French for "Farewell, Remy...good
friend...(farewell)...?!!"
On page 6, Joseph says, "Hiemand bewegt sich. Ich glaube sie
sind alle tot!" This is German for "No one moves. I think
they're all dead!"
On page 8, Dr. Schweitzer says, "Bringt die lebenden den
hugel hinauf. Verbrennt die toten!" This is German for
"Bring the living up the hill. Burn the dead!"
On page 9, Indy hears piano music in the hospital and recognizes
it as Bach's "Sheep Shall Safely Graze". This is a 1713 soprano
aria by Johann Sebastian Bach set to words by Salomon Franck. On
page 11, Indy hears another Bach piece on piano, "Partita in a A
Minor".
Page 17 reveals that
Dr. Schweitzer's pastor father lives in Gunsbach. Gunsbach is a
village in north-eastern France. Dr. Schweitzer grew up there
when the region was still part of the German Empire.
On page 23, after Indy is told that the weapons are now needed
back in France instead, Old Indy's narration reflects on the
lives lost on the expedition to get the guns in the first place,
such as a hundred Askari, Barthelemy, Boucher, and Lafleur.
These deaths took place in
"Trek of Doom".
On page 24,
Dr. Schweitzer says, "Auf wiedersehen, soldier."
Auf wiedersehen is German for "goodbye".
Memorable Dialog
a
Belgian salute.mp3
I didn't want my feet accused of desertion.mp3
back
away, Fritz.mp3
the explosion would wake up my wife.mp3
he hates to brag and so I must do it for him.mp3
because it's needed.mp3
Moses must have left that one out.mp3
gathering pebbles on a beach.mp3
your sacred duty in this life (edited).mp3
the war
in Europe.mp3
a currency value on human life.mp3
life which wills to live.mp3
most of
all.mp3
reverence is a state of mind.mp3
I don't have to take orders from a Belgian.mp3
I thought I was becoming a person I could respect.mp3
a little subversion is good for the soul.mp3
the
deepest thanks.mp3
it was a great pleasure meeting you, Mr. Jones.mp3
Back to Indiana Jones Episode
Studies
