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Tabu:
A Story of the South Seas in November
27
September 2007
In
1929, F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu,
Faust,
Sunrise),
acknowledged as one of the greatest film directors
of his age, invited the revered documentary filmmaker
Robert Flaherty (Nanook
of the North, Moana,
Man of Aran) to collaborate on
a film to be shot on location in Tahiti in which
a cast of island actors would provide a new form
of authentic drama and offer a unique insight into
their "primitive" culture. The result
was Tabu: A Story of the South Seas,
the story of a Tahitian fisherman (played by islander
Matahi) and his love for a young woman (played by
fellow islander Reri, later a Broadway star) whose
body has been consecrated to the gods, rendering
her tabu as far as the men are concerned. The lovers
flee the island and its restrictive conditions,
but will their love prevail in a "civilised"
world?
Flaherty
left the project following a series of differences,
artistic and otherwise, resulting in a sole director
credit for Murnau and a "told by" credit
for Murnau and Flaherty. Nonetheless, the result
is a beautiful realised and poetic meeting of the
two artistic minds that went on to win an Oscar
for Floyd Crosby's lyrical photography and was described
by critic Lotte Eisner in 1931 as "the apogee
of the art of the silent film."
Rarely
seen in the UK, it has been fully restored to its
full uncensored version for a DVD release in November
by Eureka! as part of the Masters of Cinema series.
The special features are:
- A
full length commentary, details to be confirmed;
- Original
theatrical trailer;
- An
80 page book featuring 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 the film's assistant director), 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;
- More
extras to be confirmed.
Release
date is 19th November 2007 and the RRP £19.99.
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