TABU: A STORY OF THE SOUTH SEAS

Germany, 1931, 85 minutes, Black and white.
Matahi, Anne Chevalier, Bill Bambridge, Hitu.
Directed by F.W. Murnau.

Tabu is the last film by celebrated German director F.W. Murneau. He was killed in a car accident just prior to the American premiere of this film. He had made celebrated films in Germany, including Nosferatu (1922) and The Last Laugh (1924). He made the classic American film, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans in 1927.

Murneau collaborated with celebrated documentary film-maker Robert J. Flaherty in the making of Tabu. However, Murneau was very dominating and did not work well with Flaherty. Flaherty’s work is seen in the opening of the film.

The setting for the film was the Tahitian islands, Bora Bora.

The film is really a variation on the Romeo and Juliet theme, a young woman engaged to a young man, designated by her clan to be a sacrifice to the gods and not marry. They escape together, are pursued, the young man tries to support the woman, getting more and more into debt, pursued by members of the clan, especially the priest, coming to a sad end.

The cast of the film are amateurs but are persuasive in their presentation of the star-crossed lovers.

The film is reminiscent of later stories like The Hurricane and its remake, Beyond the Horizon.

The film was placed on the National Film Preservation Board of America in 1994. Floyd Crosby won a 1931 Oscar for best cinematography.

1. The film-makers and their work? The blend of fiction and documentary?

2. The film from the end of the silent era, black and white photography, the locations in the Tahitian islands, authentic, beautiful? Yet a modern story? 1928?

3. The sections of the film: Paradise and Paradise Lost? The audience perspective on the happiness and unhappiness of the central couple?

4. The place of men in Paradise, their domination, warriors and hunters? The women in Paradise? Natural? Their subservient role to men? The chase, the play, love?

5. The traditions, the role of the rulers, enforcing the customs? The chief? The girl, her being set aside and consecrated, the consequences? The visitor? The performance of the ritual? Her grief, the young man responding?

6. The presentation of the ceremonies, the dance, the effect for the audience, for the couple?

7. The Tabu, the decision to escape, knowledge of the penalty, the role of the chief?

8. The couple sailing, the sea, saved? Tahiti? The young man going to work, diving, setting up the house, his not understanding money, extravagance, the Chinese and the lenders? His going into debt?

9. The pursuit of the man, his fear, the boat, money and debt?

10. The chief, his beliefs, his pursuing the couple? His being haunted by their behaviour?

11. The character of the girl, escaping with the boy, living in Tahiti, the house, his debts, his work? Her decision to save his life? Her writing the letter? Going?

12. His pursuit of the girl, swimming – and the pathos of his death?

13. The popular ingredients? Basic ingredients? As played out in a contemporary setting for the 1920s? But in exotic locations? The universal themes and appeal of the variations on Romeo and Juliet?