Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Crossing the Sahara by Citroën, 1923

La Vie Quotidienne des Français au XXe Siecle.  1900-2000.  Booster-LPM, 1999.
Following the First World War, the Citroën company sponsored four film expeditions using their half-track vehicles called the "autochenille" ("caterpillar").  (In addition to cameras, they apparently also carried a Maxim gun!)  The first expedition, illustrated above and led by Georges-Marie Haardt and Louis Audouin-Dubreuil, was a crossing of the Sahara in 1923.  This was followed by the "Black Cruise" across Africa from Algeria to Madagascar in 1924, the "Yellow Cruise" which crossed Asia from Beirut to Beijing via the Himalayas and the desert of Gobi  in 1931-1932, and the "White Cruise" from Chicago to Alaska in 1934.  (The titles of their cruises were just a little racist.)


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1 comment:

Steve said...

Quite an impressive undertaking for so long ago.
I recently viewed a Youtube clip of a "Jungle Safari featurette" from the late 40's featuring a fleet of Dodge vehicles in Africa transporting a film crew and equipment for the making of the MGM movie King Solomons Mines.
Don't know if Dodge sponsored this documentary, (it almost sounded like a Dodge infomercial at some points) but they certainly conquered some challenging terrain in their journey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chwgCpcMm_g

February 5, 2015 at 7:21 AM

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