This article argues in favour of a serious scholarship and academic valorisation of African popular/ commercial cinemas. It has been observed that there is a dearth of studies of African popular or commercial cinemas, and this is largely due to a belief within academia that popular cinema is generally of low quality, with hardly any innovative aesthetics or teachable lessons for individual and societal transformation compared to arthouse films. This paper hinges on the premise that popular cinema is a solution for the survival of an emerging African cinema. In this regard, we used the works of Alphonse Béni, one of the most successful African commercial filmmakers in the early years of African cinema, as a case study. This study reveals that popular cinema is employed by the West to assuage their domination over the rest of the world, as well as to foster their imperialistic agendas. Furthermore, it is also noted that Béni used popular cinema to encourage change in the mentality of the masses and display the modernity of developing nations.