Theodore Roosevelt - The River of Doubt, Part 1

Summary
Film is Roosevelt Memorial Association compilation of footage from TR's 1913-1914 trip to South America during which he combined a series of lectures with an expedition in the Amazon Valley of Brazil to collect zoological specimens. The Roosevelt group was combined with a group of Brazilian scientists under the leadership of Col. Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon to explore the course of the uncharted Rio da Dúvida, the River of Doubt. In 1926 George M. Dyott, an English explorer, was asked by the Roosevelt Memorial Association to retrace TR's voyage down the River of Doubt and to film his trip in order to supplement the footage from the 1914 trip.
There are shots of Roosevelt's party on board the Vandyck; left to right are: Anthony Fiala, George K. Cherrie, an ornithologist, Father John A. Zahm, a friend of TR's, TR, Kermit Roosevelt, Frank Harper, TR's secretary, and Leo E. Miller, a mammalogist. TR and his wife, Edith Roosevelt, alight from a small steamer and are met by a uniformed official; location may be Rio de Janeiro. At what is probably the Rio de Janeiro harbor area, there are shots of TR walking, preceded by reporters; TR, with three unidentified men, waves from a carriage; TR is seated in a trolley car, the man next to him (closest to camera) may be Edwin V. Morgan, American Ambassador to Brazil; long shot of the Monroe Palace.
On the steps of the Guanabara Palace, Lauro S. Müller, Brazilian Foreign Minister, TR, and others pose. Shots of TR and party aboard a small launch, probably on the Sepotuba River. Views of riverbank, probably from the Nyoac, Col. Rondon's river steamer, which carried the Roosevelt-Rondon expedition up the Paraguay River; men disembark as the Nyoac lands. Views of the group leaving the Nyoac to participate in a reception at the Fazenda São João on the Cuyabá (Cuiabá) River.
Shots of TR preparing to go hunting and returning with his party, possibly at the ranch, Las Palmeiras, on the Taquary (Taquari) River; TR, Kermit, and Col. Rondon pose with a jaguar skin. Views of Kermit, Miller, Col. Rondon, and Cherrie on the Nyoac; TR shoots crocodiles from the boat. Views of wildlife and plantlife are included. Scenes depict the exacting journey down the river. There is a still photo of TR, Col. Rondon, and others with a group of Nhambiquara (Nambicuara) Indians near the Juruena River.
Although the Roosevelt party did not see any Indians on the River of Doubt, their presence in the bordering jungle was evident; the man examining a broken branch may be Commander Dyott; the Dyott party did meet Indians and there is footage of several who were called Arara Indians by Dyott. The Roosevelt-Rondon group reached the end of the unknown portion of the River Apr. 15, 1914.
TR, suffering from illness and injuries incurred during his long journey, returned from Manaos (Manaus) to New York; the group of men on the riverboat traveling on the Madeira River are probably members of Fiala's group rather than TR's (Fiala left the Roosevelt-Rondon party at Utiarity to descend the Papagaio, the Juruena, and the Tapajós Rivers).
Created/Published
United States : Roosevelt Film Library, [1928?].
Notes
Editor, Caroline Gentry; photographer, Anthony Fiala.
Appearing: President Roosevelt, Candido Mariano da Silva, George M. Dyott, Anthony Fiala, George K. Cherrie, John A. Zahm, Kermit Roosevelt, Frank Harper, Leo E. Miller, Edith Roosevelt, Edwin V. Morgan, Lauro S. Müller.
Subjects
Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition--(1913-1914)
Arara Indians.
Nambicuara Indians.
Indians of South America--Brazil.
Palaces--Brazil.
Amazon River Valley.
Brazil--Description and travel.
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)--Description and travel.
Cuiabá River (Brazil)
Madeira River (Brazil and Bolivia)
Roosevelt River (Brazil)
Nonfiction films.
Short films.
Documentary films.
Newsreels.
Related Names
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919.
Rondon, Cândido Mariano da Silva, 1865-1958.
Dyott, G. M. (George Miller).
Cherrie, George Kruck, 1865-1946.
Zahm, John Augustine, 1851-1921.
Roosevelt, Kermit, 1889-1943.
Miller, Leo E. (Leo Edward), 1887-
Roosevelt, Edith Kermit Carow, 1861-1948.
Morgan, Edwin V.
Müller, Lauro S.
Fiala, Anthony, 1869-1950, camera.
Roosevelt Memorial Association.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Collection (Library of Congress)
Digital ID
trmp 4094s1 4094s2 4094s3 4094s4 4094s5 4094s6 4094s7 hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsmi/trmp.4094