Word: tabu
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...Tabu (Paramount). This film, if translated from pictures into words, would emerge in the form of a bare and gloomy island ballad. It tells the Polynesian legend of a love affair between an island boy and a girl who has been selected by her tribe for vestal consecration. The boy, Matahi, and the girl, Reri, escape from their own island to a more civilized one where he becomes the best pearl diver in the harbor. One night he dives into dangerous water to get a pearl which will enable them to go further away from the pursuing warrior Hitu. When...
There is no dialog in Tabu. The story is told entirely by pictures, helped by infrequent and skilful subtitles, accompanied by Composer Hugo Reisenfeld's synchronized "musical setting." Three of the five actors are natives of Bora Bora, one of two Southern Pacific Islands where Director Fred W. Murnau spent 18 months making Tabu. Best shot: Matahi coasting down a waterfall...
...collaborated with Director Robert J. Flaherty (Nanook of the North, Moana) on the story of Tabu. He built himself a house on Bora Bora, 300 miles from Tahiti in the Society Islands, and spent three months selecting natives for his cast. Six months ago he returned to Hollywood. Last fortnight he was killed when his car ran off the road some miles north of Santa Barbara, rolled down a 30-ft. embankment and landed on him at the bottom...