If you have any preconceptions about what a 1926 British film set in Northern Nigeria is going to be like, "Palaver" will probably conform to them. It never strays far from the conventions of Imperial fiction of the "Boy's Own Paper"/"Ripping Yarns" type. Only the prominence of the 'love interest' shows that it was intended for an adult audience.
A predictable 'love triangle' plot is combined with 'trouble on the frontier'. The three central characters are European. Jean Stuart, a nursing sister, finds herself caught between two men. Captain Peter Allison is a brave and upright young District Officer in the Colonial Service, who, we are told, has left behind the comforts of home in order to bring "White Man's justice" to Africa. Mark Fernandez is the brutal and cynical manager of a failing tin mine, who corrupts the locals with alcohol. Captain Allison knows his rival for what he is (a thoroughly bad sort), but Jean tries to see good in everyone and hopes to reform the villain with kindly exhortations to "play the game".
The Nigerians in the background are generally depicted as credulous, superstitious, and easily roused to violence. The film was made on location in Africa, and some outdoor scenes are in semi-documentary style. To modern eyes, the acting of the Africans is actually more acceptable (since more naturalistic) than the acting of the British professionals.
"Palaver" is by no means a badly made film for its day, and it does possess historical interest, if only on account of its plentiful stock of Imperial stereotypes. Captain Allison displays a sangfroid to match that of Sir Francis Drake on Plymouth Hoe (or Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond in "Carry On Up the Khyber"). What is his response to the news that the natives are revolting? "They will have to wait till I've finished shaving!"
