Tabu: A Story of the South Seas

Synopsis

In 1929, German filmmaker F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu, Faust, Sunrise), invited leading documentarist Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North, Moana, Man of Aran) to collaborate on a film to be be shot on location in Tahiti, a Polynesian idyll in which Murnau imagined a cast of island actors would provide a new form of authentic drama and offer rare insight into their "primitive" culture. The result of their collaboration was TABU, a film that depicts the details of indigenous island life to tell a mythical tale that is rich in the universal themes of desire and loss.

Subtitled a "Story of the South Seas", Tabu concerns a Tahitian fisherman (played by an islander, Matahi) and his love for a young woman (played by fellow islander Reri) whose body has been consecrated to the gods, rendering her tabu as far as mortal men are concerned. The lovers flee their island and its restrictive traditions, but will their love prevail in the "civilised" world?

Though Flaherty eventually left the film following a series of artistic and other differences (the film is credited as being "told by" Murnau and Flaherty, but directed by Murnau alone), what their South Seas adventure left behind was an Oscar winning film (the Academy Award went to cinematographer Floyd Crosby for his lyrical vision of island life) that is both poetic and simple in tone.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: A 96-page book featuring much archival imagery; articles by Scott Eyman (film critic and author of The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926-1930); Richard Griffiths (author of The World of Robert Flaherty), and David Flaherty (Robert’s brother and assistant director on the film); an interview with the film’s cinematographer Floyd Crosby; and the original story treatments written by F.W. Murnau and Robert Flaherty for Tabu and its aborted predecessor ‘Turia’.

Series

Masters of Cinema

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of release

1931

Notes

Also available in Blu-Ray version

Subjects

Anthropology

Keywords

Polynesia

Credits

Director

F W Murnau

Producer

Robert J Flaherty

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 2 PAL

Price

£19.99

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

82 minutes

Year

2007

Distributor

Name

Eureka Entertainment

Email

info@eurekavideo.co.uk

Web

http://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/ External site opens in new window

Phone

020 8459 8054

Fax

020 8459 5162

Address

Unit 9, Ironbridge Close
Great Central Way
London
NW10 OUF

Notes

An independent distributor specialising in releasing classic and early/silent films on DVD, including the Masters of Cinema curated collection of classic and world cinema. Sale via retail outlets.

 

Available from retail outlets