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Tabu
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Synopsis
Tabu is a lyrical documentary of Polynesian life, given added audience appeal with a fictional plotline. The story concerns a young island girl (Anna Chevalier, who like everyone in the cast is a non-professional) who has been consecrated to the gods by her tribespeople. It is thus "tabu" for her to marry; still, she falls in love with a handsome young pearl fisherman (Matahi). The island's holy man takes the girl away in his schooner. Her lover swims after her, but eventually sinks disconsolately into the ocean. Shot completely on location, it was supposed to be a collaboration between German director F. W. Murnau and American documentary producer Robert Flaherty. Flaherty withdrew from the project when he realized the film was taking a romanticized approach. Murnau never lived to see the final product; he was killed in a car accident just before the film's opening. Begun as a silent film in 1929, Tabu was released in that form in 1931, despite the fact that talking pictures already had been established for nearly three years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

Kong Ah Chinese Tradesman
Matahi Matahi
Matahi Hitu Chief
Jules

Production Crew

Floyd D.Crosby Cinematographer
Hugo Riesenfeld Composer (Music Score)
F.W. Murnau Director
Robert Flaherty Director
Arthur A. Brooks Editor
F.W. Murnau Producer
Robert Flaherty Producer
Edgar G. Ulmer Screenwriter
F.W. Murnau Screenwriter
Robert Flaherty Screenwriter
Year: 1931
Runtime: 82
Country: USA
MPAA Rating:
Category: Documentary


Produced by
Milestone Film & Video

Release
by Paramount

Awards
1931 - Best Picture - National Board of Review
1931 - Best Picture - National Board of Review
1993 - U.S. National Film Registry - Library of Congress