| Tabu | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | F.W. Murnau |
| Produced by | David Flaherty Robert J. Flaherty F.W. Murnau |
| Written by | F.W. Murnau Robert J. Flaherty |
| Starring | Matahi Anne Chevalier Bill Brambridge |
| Music by | Hugo Riesenfeld |
| Cinematography | Floyd Crosby Robert J. Flaherty |
| Editing by | Arthur A. Brooks |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 1, 1931 |
| Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $150,000 |
Tabu (also called Tabu, a Story of the South Seas) 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 Polynesian 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".
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Matahi is a native man living in Bora Bora, 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.
F.W. Murnau was coming off two troubled Fox Studios productions, Four Devils (1928) and City Girl (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.[1] 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.[2]
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.[2] While scouting they found their leading lady Anna Chevalier (Reri) in a local cocktail bar.[2]
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.[2][3]
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.[4] The film's script was rewritten and the title was changed to Tabu to avoid potential legal issues with Colorart.[2][4] 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.[4]
Production began in January 1930 with Flaherty directing the opening scene of the film. This would be the only scene he would direct.[2] 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.[1][2] 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.[2] 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.[2] Flaherty disliked Murnau immensely because of this and the arrogance and selfishness Murnau displayed during production.[1]
Production finished in October 1930.[2] 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.[2] Having returned to Los Angeles Murnau spent the winter editing the film and used the last of his money to hire Hugo Riesenfeld 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.
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.[2] At the 4th Academy Awards Floyd Crosby was awarded the Oscar for Best Cinematography.
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 II.[2][4]
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.[2]
The re-release was not a success and in the 1960s Murnau's nieces, Ursula Plumpe and Eva Diekmann bought back the rights.[4] 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.[2]
The film was released on Region 1 DVD by Image Entertainment. This version of the film runs 80 minutes 51 seconds.[5] 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 Cinema 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)).[5]
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.
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