Hi:
Viewed the 1955 "Simba" movie.
This movie is about the "Mau Mau" period in Kenya Africa.
In the movie the main actress British farm women are armed with what appears to be small Colt (?) .32 Revolvers (?)

Can Anyone I.D. these handguns ?

Jimmy

What does "guns in the movies" say?

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

I found two screen captures with women holding a gun you can actually see.



I think that one is his gun, not hers. That six inch barrel. I've found lots of pix with him and a large revolver. Colt, but I'm not up on Colt models.

This one - comparing its size to his elbow, I'm thinking Police Positive, maybe PP Special.

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I always take precautions

Do you mean Lion King?

Don't remember any revolver in that one...

He means, Simba. Watch on YouTube. Starred Dirk Bogarde.

But I know a nurse who was very surprised that I told her that Simba just means Lion in Swahili. She thought it was a name they came up with for, The Lion King.

I think the gun is an Official Police. Frame is too big for a PP Special. Too long for a regular Police Positive.

Looks like a Colt OP to me also. But I am not 100% certain. I remember seeing the movie long ago.

"Safari" was a better movie, but I think is no longer on YouTube in English. They've also had it dubbed in Spanish. Victor Mature, Janet Leigh, and various British actors. Many who made it later worked on James Bond films.

I saw it new in theaters as a boy, and bought the DVD.

Plenty of good guns, inc. Janet's Winchester M-94. Odd African rifle, that.

You can also find some Mau-Mau news films. I saw troops with bayonets on Sten guns. They were the type with a folding butt that'd also fit No. 4 rifles.

Remember the old Ramar of the Jungle series with Jon Hall and Ray Montgomery? I got a DVD, but quality is so poor that I can't make out the guns for sure. I THINK they carried Colt OP .38's with six-inch barrels. But could be M-1917 .45's. (Or commercial New Service.) Ramar had a stutzen-stocked rifle, but maybe not a Mannlicher-Schoenauer.

I'll go with an Official Police. It looks too small to be a New Service.

I seem to remember the Africans in the old Tarzan movies calling lions simba too.

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I told you not to use Lifebuoy

The natives SHOULD call lions SIMBA, and call elephants JUMBO (not to be confused with JAMBO, which is a greeting) as that is all Swahili - one of the most common languages in sub-Saharan Africa.

Tarzan, on t'other hand, should NOT say Simba (as Mr. Weissmuller said constantly), since Tarzan spoke Mangani, not Swahili, and the word is NUMA.

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I always take precautions

Tarzan's first Euro language in the books was French. He also spoke perfect (not pidgin) English and at least one black language, that of the Waziri tribe. Actually, the real Wazris are in Pakistan or Afghanistan! Why Burroughs used that name is puzzling. He probably also spoke Swahili.

But it is true that he called the lion Numa, in some Gomangani language or that of the great apes who raised him.

The Swahili word for elephant is Tembo, not Jumbo. Jumbo probably originated in some circus! Buffalo is M'Bogo. Leopard is Chui. Rhino is Kifaru.

Now, listen to learn important Swahili words. You may need these phrases while on safari:

Letti chai kwa Bwana/ MemSahib. Bring tea to the master or mistress.

Letti bunduki kidogo kwa mimi. Bring me the light (little) rifle. The heavy/big rifle is bunduki M'kubwa.

Letti hotti mojo kwa bathi. Bring hot water for the bath.

Where else can you learn this stuff on a gun board? And yes, I memorized this from books and magazine articles in hopes that I'd someday hunt in East Africa.

Colt Army Special with 6" barrel is my guess...

Attached Images

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The small revolvers that the hero's girlfriend and girlfriend's mother wore in waist holsters are the ones I enquired about.

The language and the hairy people are Mangani. Mangani means APE. TAR means white, and ZAN means skin, so Tarzan (white skin) is a Tarmangani (white ape). GO means black, so the various hairless jungle dwellers that threw the little splinters of death are Gomangani (black ape).

Tarzan did speak several European languages and at least three African. But, in the books, when he mentioned one of the "furry woodland creatures" he called them Numa, Sheeta, Hista, Sabor, the same way you, if speaking Spanish to someone, would not refer to Jimmy as Jaime, or Charlie as Carlos (as an aside, I found it interesting that only the lions had a male and female name. All the others were simply the snake, the deer, the boar, the panther, the gorilla. But there was Numa the lion and Sabor the lioness).

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I always take precautions

Yes you did. Unfortunately, the only pic I could find of a woman with the smaller gun, it is holstered, the holster covered everything except the grip, and ehen I blew it up for detail it pixilated too much to see anything.

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I always take precautions

I do think I recall a Colt .32 revolver in, White Mischief, another movie set in Kenya in that time frame. If memory serves, a guy kept it in his desk, and committed suicide with it.

I haven't seen the film since it was in theaters, probably over 20 years ago. Don't know if it's on DVD. I'll check that out.

I may be thinking of a PBS mini series where the guy killed himself. Same country, same time frame. Trevor Eve played a police inspector. He and his pilot girlfriend were the hero couple. The white and Indian cops had Webley MK IV .38's. Black constables/askaris had Lee-Enfield .303's.

One episode was, "The Sport of Kings." I liked that mini series, hosted by Dame Diana Rigg.

What about a Colt .32 auto? I think the wife of a British officer in "Drums" had one. Set in India in 1937.

Jimmy, if you don't know Colts well enough to ID those guns, I don't think you'll ever know. But I may see, "Simba" again and see what I can make out of them. If I have any joy there, I'll let you know.

Oh, I know all that. But you will not get tea by asking your personal boy to bring it in the fictional Mangani language!

You know, I'd never thought of that gender issue with lions: Numa and Sabor. Good point. I realized something new today! Thanks.

Warren-

I'm sure that you realize that the Army Special was re-named Official Police about 1926-27. Only a very minor change in the sights and the name was different. The guns are indistinguishable in movies. Later, the front sight of the OP was a sort of semi ramp.

I guessed OP because the film was done in 1955, by which time, the OP was far more common.