Osa Johnson presents Martin Johnson’s last picture — “Borneo” — a 1937 film by the husband-and-wife team of documentary filmmakers captured during a trip to British North Borneo from 1935 to 1936. Narrated by Lowell Thomas, this piece opens with a title card (mark 01:00) explaining how Martin Johnson “has photographed the last of his beloved jungles (in Borneo) — filmed the pictorial climax of a great career that led him through the dark, mysterious byways of the unknown world.” (Martin Johnson died in 1937). From there, Thomas details Johnson’s life and search for adventure as scenes of the couple in the wild appear on screen. At mark 02:20, Thomas explains how Martin, who once said he always felt safest in the wild, died when the twin-engine Boeing 247D in which he was a passenger crashed shortly after takeoff in California. “But he left behind this, his greatest film,” says Thomas. He explains the route the couple took as we see images of their plane in flight and an aerial view of British North Borneo’s capital (mark 04:00) on their way to the “deepest and darkest jungle of all.” Scenes of meetings with natives fascinated by the Johnsons begin at mark 05:30 and we learn of Borneo’s poisonous “flying snakes” (mark 06:22) as the couple make their way through the jungle. We see various residents of the Borneo including the proboscis monkey (mark 08:55) and the tree-climbing fish as the expedition makes its way down the river and the film comes to an abrupt end.
British Borneo comprised the four northern parts of the island of Borneo, which are now Brunei, Labuan, Sabah, and Sarawak. During the British colonial rule until 1963, Sarawak, Labuan and Sabah known as: Kingdom of Sarawak (1841–1946) – Crown Colony of Sarawak (1946–1963) (now Sarawak), Crown Colony of Labuan (1848–1946) (now Labuan) and North Borneo (1881–1946) – Crown Colony of North Borneo (1946–1963) (now Sabah).
Borneo is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and east of Sumatra.
The island is politically divided among three countries: Malaysia and Brunei in the north, and Indonesia to the south. Approximately 73% of the island is Indonesian territory. In the north, the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak make up about 26% of the island. Additionally, the Malaysian federal territory of Labuan is situated on a small island just off the coast of Borneo. The sovereign state of Brunei, located on the north coast, comprises about 1% of Borneo’s land area.
Antipodal to an area of Amazon rainforest, Borneo is itself home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world.
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