Tabu (film)
Encyclopedia
Tabu is a 1931 film directed by F.W. Murnau. The film is split into two chapters, the first called "Paradise" depicts the lives of two lovers on a South Seas island until they are forced to escape the island when the girl is chosen as a holy maid to the gods. The second chapter, "Paradise Lost" depicts the couple's life on a colonised island and how they adapt to and are exploited by Western civilisation. According to an intertitle at the beginning, "only native-born South Sea islanders appear in this picture with a few half-castes and Chinese". The title of the film comes from the concept of tapu (sometimes spelled tabu, which originated the concept of taboo
). It is a form of sacredness in many Polynesia
n cultures (see: tapu (Polynesian culture).
The film's story was written by Robert J. Flaherty
and F.W. Murnau; with the exception of the opening scene, the film was directed solely by Murnau. This was his last film; he died in hospital after an automobile accident on 11 March 1931, a week before the film's premiere in New York
.
Cinematographer Floyd Crosby
won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography
for his work on this film. In 1994, Tabu was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
, a small island in the South Pacific
. One day, he meets the beautiful Reri and falls in love with her. Shortly after they meet, the Tribal Elders (led by Hitu) arrive from the surrounding islands. Their maid to the gods has died and they choose Reri as a replacement because of her unparalleled beauty. If any man so much as casts a lustful gaze at her, he is to be put to death. Matahi however is unwilling to let her go; at night, he sneaks her off the Elders' ship and the couple escape the island by canoe.
Eventually, they arrive on a French Colony, where Matahi becomes the community's most successful pearl diver
. He is happy with his new life, but Reri remains fearful that the Elders will find them. In pursuit of the couple, Hitu visits the island and tells Reri she has three days to give herself up or Matahi will be put to death. Without telling Matahi of Hitu's threat, Reri tries to buy a ticket for them to escape to the mainland. However, Matahi has no concept of money and they find themselves so far in debt they are unable to pay for passage on a ship. That night, Matahi decides to go out and obtain a pearl from a shark
-infested region of the reef
in order to pay off his debt. While he is away, Reri writes a farewell note to Matahi, and Hitu comes to collect her. When Matahi returns, he finds her note and tries to swim after Hitu's boat. After grabbing a rope along the edge of the boat, Hitu cuts it loose; Matahi continues swimming after them and drowns.
(1930), while Flaherty's production Acoma had been shut down. The two directors knew each through Flaherty's brother David and Murnau expressed a desire to make a film in Tahiti
with Flaherty who had experience with the natives there. Murnau and Flaherty wrote a story called Turia and started their own production company, Flaherty-Murnau Productions. Turia was based on a legend Flaherty had heard while working on W.S. Van Dyke's White Shadows in the South Seas
(1928) and contained many elements which would later evolve into Tabu.
Murnau visited Tahiti in May 1929 and was joined by Flaherty a month later to scout for locations in the nearby island of Bora Bora. While scouting they found their leading lady Anna Chevalier (Reri) in a local cocktail bar.
The production was originally due to be financed by a small production company called Colorart. By September Murnau had only received $5,000 of the due money. After a series of telegrams asking for the rest of the money Murnau got fed up and decided to fund the film himself.
To cut costs Murnau sent the Hollywood crew home and trained the natives to work as the film crew. He also scrapped plans to shoot the film in colour and changed to black and white. The film's script was rewritten and the title was changed to Tabu to avoid potential legal issues with Colorart. This was the start of a poor working relationship between Flaherty and Murnau. Flaherty disliked the new script, feeling it was overly plotted and westernised.
for scoring duties. The distribution rights were sold to Paramount
for five years for a sum of $75,000, which helped Murnau pay off Flaherty.
Floyd Crosby was awarded the Oscar for Best Cinematography
.
.
In 1940, Plumpe sold the worldwide distribution rights to Rowland and Samuel Brown. During World War II, the US government seized the film believing it was owned by German citizens. The brothers regained the film after the war, and re-released the film in 1948 adding an alternate title sequence and cutting five minutes out of the film including content now deemed objectionable by the Production Code
.
The re-release was not a success and in the 1960s Murnau's nieces, Ursula Plumpe and Eva Diekmann bought back the rights. In 1973 a complete nitrate print of the 1931 release was discovered and screened at the American Film Institute
. Floyd Crosby funded a preservation negative by the UCLA Film and Television Archive
based on this newly-found print to preserve the film for future generations.
released a Region 0 DVD in the UK and Ireland. This version of the film runs 82 minutes 14 seconds with PAL speed up (85 minutes 42 seconds (NTSC)).
This version re-instates cuts made by Paramount prior to the film's premiere including shots of nudity. The DVD contains a commentary with R. Dixon Smith and Brad Stevens and a booklet containing essays and the original stories, Turia and Tabu by Flaherty and Murnau upon which the film is based.
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
). It is a form of sacredness in many Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
n cultures (see: tapu (Polynesian culture).
The film's story was written by Robert J. Flaherty
Robert J. Flaherty
Robert Joseph Flaherty, F.R.G.S. was an American filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature length documentary film, Nanook of the North...
and F.W. Murnau; with the exception of the opening scene, the film was directed solely by Murnau. This was his last film; he died in hospital after an automobile accident on 11 March 1931, a week before the film's premiere in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Cinematographer Floyd Crosby
Floyd Crosby
Floyd Delafield Crosby, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer.Crosby was born and raised in West Philadelphia, the son of Julia Floyd and Frederick Van Schoonhoven Crosby...
won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
for his work on this film. In 1994, Tabu was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
Matahi is a native man living in Bora BoraBora Bora
The commune of Bora-Bora is made up of the island of Bora Bora proper with its surrounding islets emerging from the coral reef, 29.3 km² in total, and of the atoll of Tupai , located north of Bora Bora...
, a small island in the South Pacific
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
. One day, he meets the beautiful Reri and falls in love with her. Shortly after they meet, the Tribal Elders (led by Hitu) arrive from the surrounding islands. Their maid to the gods has died and they choose Reri as a replacement because of her unparalleled beauty. If any man so much as casts a lustful gaze at her, he is to be put to death. Matahi however is unwilling to let her go; at night, he sneaks her off the Elders' ship and the couple escape the island by canoe.
Eventually, they arrive on a French Colony, where Matahi becomes the community's most successful pearl diver
Pearl hunting
Pearl hunting or pearl diving refers to a largely obsolete method of retrieving pearls from pearl oysters, freshwater pearl mussels and, on rare occasions, other nacre-producing molluscs, such as abalone.-History:...
. He is happy with his new life, but Reri remains fearful that the Elders will find them. In pursuit of the couple, Hitu visits the island and tells Reri she has three days to give herself up or Matahi will be put to death. Without telling Matahi of Hitu's threat, Reri tries to buy a ticket for them to escape to the mainland. However, Matahi has no concept of money and they find themselves so far in debt they are unable to pay for passage on a ship. That night, Matahi decides to go out and obtain a pearl from a shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
-infested region of the reef
Reef
In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
in order to pay off his debt. While he is away, Reri writes a farewell note to Matahi, and Hitu comes to collect her. When Matahi returns, he finds her note and tries to swim after Hitu's boat. After grabbing a rope along the edge of the boat, Hitu cuts it loose; Matahi continues swimming after them and drowns.
Cast (in credits order)
- Matahi as The Boy
- Anne Chevalier as The Girl
- Bill Bambridge as The Policeman
- Hitu as The Old Warrior
Pre Production
F.W. Murnau was coming off two troubled Fox Studios productions, Four Devils (1928) and City GirlCity Girl
City Girl is an American 1930 silent film directed by F.W. Murnau. Along with Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, 4 Devils and Tabu, these mark Murnau's Hollywood productions. The director wanted the film to be called Our Daily Bread....
(1930), while Flaherty's production Acoma had been shut down. The two directors knew each through Flaherty's brother David and Murnau expressed a desire to make a film in Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
with Flaherty who had experience with the natives there. Murnau and Flaherty wrote a story called Turia and started their own production company, Flaherty-Murnau Productions. Turia was based on a legend Flaherty had heard while working on W.S. Van Dyke's White Shadows in the South Seas
White Shadows in the South Seas
White Shadows in the South Seas is a silent film adventure romance produced by Cosmopolitan Productions in association with MGM and distributed by MGM. The movie was directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starred Monte Blue and Raquel Torres...
(1928) and contained many elements which would later evolve into Tabu.
Murnau visited Tahiti in May 1929 and was joined by Flaherty a month later to scout for locations in the nearby island of Bora Bora. While scouting they found their leading lady Anna Chevalier (Reri) in a local cocktail bar.
The production was originally due to be financed by a small production company called Colorart. By September Murnau had only received $5,000 of the due money. After a series of telegrams asking for the rest of the money Murnau got fed up and decided to fund the film himself.
To cut costs Murnau sent the Hollywood crew home and trained the natives to work as the film crew. He also scrapped plans to shoot the film in colour and changed to black and white. The film's script was rewritten and the title was changed to Tabu to avoid potential legal issues with Colorart. This was the start of a poor working relationship between Flaherty and Murnau. Flaherty disliked the new script, feeling it was overly plotted and westernised.
Production
Production began in January 1930 with Flaherty directing the opening scene of the film. This would be the only scene he would direct. Flaherty began having technical problems, as his camera was causing the film to rip. He called in cinematographer Floyd Crosby for help and the rest of the film was shot by Crosby. Murnau, Flaherty and Crosby were the only professional filmmakers working on the film, the rest of the crew was made up of the local natives. Flaherty worked on the story with Murnau during production but he was not the co-director as he originally thought he would be. He spent most of his time on the film working in the lab developing the film. Flaherty disliked Murnau immensely because of this and the arrogance and selfishness Murnau displayed during production.Post Production
Production finished in October 1930. Flaherty had been living on only $40 a week and was broke by the end of the shoot. A couple of days after the wrap Flaherty sold his shares of the film to Murnau for $25,000. Having returned to Los Angeles Murnau spent the winter editing the film and used the last of his money to hire Hugo RiesenfeldHugo Riesenfeld
Hugo Riesenfeld was a Jewish Austrian-American composer. As a film director, he began to write his own orchestral compositions for silent films in 1917, and co-created modern production techniques where film scoring serves an integral part of the action...
for scoring duties. The distribution rights were sold to Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
for five years for a sum of $75,000, which helped Murnau pay off Flaherty.
Release and Reception
The film had its premiere on March 18, 1931, a week after Murnau died, at New York's Central Part Theater. The film was not a box office success upon release, grossing just $472,000 worldwide which failed to recoup Murnau and Paramount's investment. At the 4th Academy Awards4th Academy Awards
The 4th Academy Awards were awarded to films completed and screened in 1930/1931, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the ceremony, nine-year-old Jackie Cooper, nominated for Best Actor in "Skippy," fell asleep on the shoulder of Best Actress nominee Marie Dressler...
Floyd Crosby was awarded the Oscar for Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
.
Preservation status and restoration
The film's ownership reverted to Murnau's mother Ottilie Plumpe after distribution rights lapsed in the mid 1930s. The original negative was returned to Germany, where it was destroyed during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In 1940, Plumpe sold the worldwide distribution rights to Rowland and Samuel Brown. During World War II, the US government seized the film believing it was owned by German citizens. The brothers regained the film after the war, and re-released the film in 1948 adding an alternate title sequence and cutting five minutes out of the film including content now deemed objectionable by the Production Code
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
.
The re-release was not a success and in the 1960s Murnau's nieces, Ursula Plumpe and Eva Diekmann bought back the rights. In 1973 a complete nitrate print of the 1931 release was discovered and screened at the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
. Floyd Crosby funded a preservation negative by the UCLA Film and Television Archive
UCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film and Television Archive is an internationally renowned visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles. It holds more than 220,000 film and television titles and 27 million feet of...
based on this newly-found print to preserve the film for future generations.
DVD releases
The film was released on Region 1 DVD by Image Entertainment. This version of the film runs 80 minutes 51 seconds. The disc also includes a commentary by film historian Janet Bergstrom, twenty minutes of outtakes and a short film called Reri in New York. Masters of CinemaMasters of Cinema
The Masters of Cinema organization began as a website dedicated to the most well-regarded film directors in the world. Founded by a diverse international group of like-minded film enthusiasts: Jan Bielawski, a mathematician; Doug Cummings, a graphic artist and freelance critic; Trond Trondsen, a Ph.D...
released a Region 0 DVD in the UK and Ireland. This version of the film runs 82 minutes 14 seconds with PAL speed up (85 minutes 42 seconds (NTSC)).
This version re-instates cuts made by Paramount prior to the film's premiere including shots of nudity. The DVD contains a commentary with R. Dixon Smith and Brad Stevens and a booklet containing essays and the original stories, Turia and Tabu by Flaherty and Murnau upon which the film is based.