Back in 2013 I blogged that Rob Allyn, an American film producer with a solid, if unspectacular, back catalogue, had been travelling around Sarawak in Borneo scoping out the possibility of making a film about Sir James Brooke. Despite a reported £15 million dollar budget and official support from the Sarawak government, nothing happened for years. It looked as if this was to be yet another failed attempt to film Brooke’s life.
Before World War II, Errol Flynn pitched the idea of a film based on Brooke’s story to Warner Brothers. Unfortunately, the idea was based on an outline by Lady Sylvia Brooke, the wife of the third Rajah and she vetoed Flynn’s ideas which presented Brooke as a romantic hero, irresistible to women. (Flynn, it must be said, knew what he was good at and concentrated on playing those roles. He, of course, intended to play Brooke.) Lady Sylvia insisted that the plot must reflect the historical reality that Brooke was uninterested in women. (We’ll explore the reasons why this may have been true in another blog post.) Flynn insisted that “You can’t have a motion picture without love,” and Lady Sylvia insisted that you couldn’t have a James Brooke movie with it and Warner Brothers decided not to go ahead.
Errol Flynn
Further possible development of a movie stalled because of the war, but in 1947 Errol Flynn tried again. (You can see his letter to Jack Warner HERE.) The outline Errol pitched cheerfully ignored history, but might have made a decent adventure romance. Warner disagreed, though and the film was never made. In 1968 Warner gave up on the rights.
In 1971 Lady Sylvia died and with her died any concerns about worrying over historical accuracy.
Fast forward to 2013 and, despite a slow start, production went ahead on the latest version of the movie, originally called White Rajah. The movie makers seem to have got a bit nervous of the word ‘white’ and changed the title to Rajah. (I do sympathise because I worry about the racial implications myself, but the dynasty is still known locally as ‘the White Rajahs’ and it’s the way Brooke has been referred to.) Rajah on its own doesn’t make much sense, though, so the film is now Edge of the World.
It’s a big production, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers. It was financially supported by the government of Sarawak and filming takes full advantage of the dramatic scenery of Borneo. The curse that seems to hang over Brooke films has struck again, though. Despite being featured as a ‘First Look’ offering in the 2020 Cannes film festival, covid means it will not have its planned cinema opening, instead going straight to DVD/digital.
Jonathan Rhys Myers as James Brooke
The film was available in the USA on 4 June, but we have to wait until 21 June to see it in the UK. I’ve been lucky enough to see a preview. (Writing doesn’t earn any money but it generates the odd side benefit.) I’ll be reviewing it next week. Until then, if you are interested in my take on Brooke’s story, The White Rajah is still available at £6.99 (or £3.99 on Kindle).
Just one week to go until the publication of The White Rajah It’s £6.99 in paperback or just £3.99 on Kindle (and if you have Kindle Unlimited you can read it for free).
So what do you get for your money?
The White Rajah is based on the life of James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak in the mid-19th century. He was a fascinating man: a merchant-adventurer who bought a ship, ostensibly to trade in the South China Seas but really in the hope of extending British influence in an area dominated by the Dutch. He extended British influence even more than he had planned, involving himself so thoroughly in the politics of the local Malay rulers that he ended up ruling his own country: Sarawak in Borneo.
It’s a tale of adventure with battles and plots and midnight raids, but it’s also a more serious story about colonialism and how, even when seeking to do the best for the natives he thought of as “his people” the sudden intervention of Europeans from an alien culture had some unhappy unintended consequences.
James Brooke did an enormous amount of good in Sarawak and even today some people look back on the time of the White Rajahs as a Golden Age. But when his rule was threatened he could be utterly ruthless.
Evil white colonialist or a good man who spent most of his life (and practically all of his fortune) building a peaceful and prosperous society where there had been little but poverty and war? Or is the truth (as truth so often is) somewhere in the middle?
James Brooke’s life will soon be in the news again because a new film based on his adventures is about to be released (straight to DVD sadly, because of covid). Having seen the trailer, I’m not expecting a lot of discussion of the rights and wrongs of colonialism or the moral underpinning of his rule but, like my book, I’m sure it will have pirates and hairsbreadth escapes and heroic deeds with Jonathan Rhys Myers buckling the odd swash (or maybe firing an authentically period pistol). I’m looking forward to it. I’m hoping it might generate some interest for my book, too. Other, non-fiction, books about James Brooke are also available but can honestly be quite hard work. (His diaries are brilliant, though.)
I hope you all saw last Friday’s blog post with my news of the republication of The White Rajah and the lovely new cover. Now it’s time to tell you more about what you get when you buy the book.
The White Rajah is based around the life of James Brooke of Sarawak. An English adventurer, he arrived in Borneo in 1839 and became embroiled in a civil war that was going on there. Although he had only 28 men and six small cannon on his ship, his intervention in the war proved crucial. After it was over, he was rewarded with the rule of one of the provinces there and he became the Rajah of Sarawak, starting a dynasty that lasted three generations and which was known as ‘The White Rajahs’.
James Brooke was almost the ideal Victorian hero and his exploits inspired Conrad’s Lord Jim. It’s not surprising that his adventures, with headhunters and pirates, battles in the jungle, and intrigue with Sarawak’s Malay nobility, have long been considered as the basis for a film. Errol Flynn tried to get such a movie made back in the 1930s (with him as the star, of course). Since then there have been several more attempts, but now one is finally to see the light of day. Sadly, covid means that End of the World will go straight to DVD, but it does look like a spectacular film, even though it may not be that careful of historical fact. (The posters say it is “The true story that inspired The Man Who Would Be King,” which is rather stretching a point to start off with.)
I’m hoping that interest in the film will generate more interest in my book, which sticks reasonably closely to the facts (and reasonable conjecture) about James Brooke’s life. The book may also interest readers who think that there must be more to the arguments about the British Empire than ‘The British Empire was an unmitigated Good’ vs ‘The British Empire was an unmitigated Evil’. Brooke’s rule (and especially the main incidents in my book) captures the ambiguity of British rule. As the epigram in my book (written at the time of his death) says:
‘When his Biography comes to be written, there must be in it, dark chapters as well as bright ones, but while those who loved him the best, could fondly and sadly wish it had been otherwise, they will ever be able to think of their leader, as the Father and Founder of a nation and as one of England’s greatest sons.’
The Monthly Packet, 14 September 1874
The White Rajah was the first book I ever wrote and, unlike the others, it has undergone significant revisions between editions. This edition, though, is identical to the one published by Endeavour/Lume Books, because I think I have finally got the book I meant to write. It will be published on 21 May, but it is already available for pre-order at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B092XZCZDC
Last year I was asked to write a short story for a collection of stories set in Victoria’s reign. I always wanted to write some short stories of Brooke rule in Sarawak, so I produced a tale about a tiger hunt. Like The White Rajah, it is told by Brooke’s (fictional) companion, John Williamson. If you want a feel for the sort of book The White Rajah is, you might like to read it. It’s just 4,200 words and it’s available on Smashwords at 99p but you can get a free copy (via a Smashwords voucher) if you sign up to my newsletter.
