Customer Reviews

Tabu

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Among the more beautiful places on our small planet, the South Pacific has long been deemed a living paradise and a favorite destination of lovers and adventurers since the beginning of human history. It has also generated and inspired musicians, artists, writers and filmmakers.

Filmed in 1929 entirely on location on the magical island of Bora Bora, "TABU" is a collaboration between legendary directors F.W. Murnau ("Nosferatu," "Faust" and "Sunrise") and the great drama-based documentarian Robert Flaherty ("Nanook of the North"). Like Romeo and Juliet, young fisherman Matahi and beautiful Reri are two island lovers damned by a tribal mandate declaring the girl off-limits or "tabu" to all eligible males. The young couple run away, but discover that so-called civilization (remember, it's 1929 Tahiti) is not to be their salvation.

This beautiful film literally glows. The drama of destiny and fate is played out by half-naked young bodies that move through the silver light that radiates, reflects and refracts everywhere. It vibrates in the dappled shadows of tropical foliage and dances on the sparkling lagoons, pristine waterfalls and unpolluted beaches.

"Tabu" deservedly won a 1931 Oscar© for Best Cinematography. Sadly, Murnau died in a freak auto accident in the El Cajon pass a week before the New York premier.

This digital edition, thanks to UCLA restoration, is the first time since its original release that "Tabu" has been available in a complete and uncensored print. Significant extras include a surprisingly intriguing audio commentary by UCLA Film Professor Janet Bergestrom, a still gallery, outtake footage, original theatrical trailer and the short film "Reri in New York." Highly recommended.

Tabu was Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's last film. This director is perhaps best known today for his 1922 "NOSFERATU" the early Dracula film.

Although produced in the early 1930's the film was shot in silent mode (music added later). This allowed the film to be shot on location, and allowed some brilliant cinematography not usually seen in this period of film making as the combined camera and microphones for the "talkies" were big, heavy, clumsy and relatively "static".

The film is rather slow at the start. I believe this was due to a conflict in creative control between the producer and director, Murnau.

However the pace picks up as the simple tale is told, and even the "modern viewer" will find the build up to the climax of the film very engaging.

What makes this a "stand out" movie is the cinematography. The "lovers" are always seen projected as "larger than life" against their lesser mortals and the landscape. There is a wonderful use of light and dark. The composition of some of the shots is just stunning, for example the "old man" sailing away with the young girl in a sailboat upon a limitless sea. I have been very lucky to see this film on a large cinema screen; I am not sure how this would translate to the small screen. But I think that it would be difficult not to appreciate the magnificence of Murnau's artistry!

Alas, Marnau was killed in a car accident after returning to Hollywood from location, just two weeks prior to the film's opening.

I will go against the grain of conventional opinion and admit that this is my favorite Murnau film. I think it was the influence of Robert Flaherty (in regard to location, subject matter, & casting) that put it over the top. But make no mistakes, this is Murnau's film. Amidst this cast and backdrop, Murnau brought his technique (the artful expression of narrative thru film images) to its most perfect form. There are barely any intertitles in this film; the pictures speaks almost completely without them. And here in Tahiti Murnau's fascination with the supernatural found poignancy in the exploration of the Tabu of the native islanders. Add to that romance and dancing scenes that are tantalizingly pure and delightful, and in my humble opinion you have Murnau's finest work.

apart from charlie chaplin, this was the last major movie of the silent era. set in a purportedly idyllic south seas, it began as a rare collaboration between directors f. w. murnau ("nosferatu") and robert flaherty ("nanook of the north") -- tho the end product was way more murnau than flaherty. a saga of forbidden love, mixed with skin, it is both fascinating curiosity and enduring classic. i would recommend this movie to anyone seriously interested in motion picture history -- but it IS a special bit of cuisine, not for people who think "crash" is a masterpiece.

It's somehow fitting that Murnau's last film was as great a masterpiece as Nosferatu and Sunrise. As has been said countless times, the photography is absolutely stunning, and the story, even though highly simplistic and told with zero dialogue, holds your attention all the way through. The extras and outtakes are interesting as well. This is one of those films you can read about, but really have to experience. Don't wait.

Conceived as a joint project by docu-ethnographer Flaherty ("Nanook of the North") and German expressionist director Murnau ("The Last Laugh"), this poignant, beautifully photographed Oscar winner has few rivals in the silent era. Shot on location in the Pacific and helmed mostly by Murnau, its story of forbidden love resonated with audiences in the early '30s--just as a wave of the first talkies came ashore--and remains absorbing today. All the actors are Polynesian locals, which enhances the romanticized vision of blissful island life. But the flight from authority and visitation of fate in the form of an old holy man are as classic--and tragic--as Greek myth.

Considering there is the temptation to regard any film created by Murnau as genius, I have to admit initially feeling just a little underwhelmed by TABU. It's simplicity did not seem nearly as shaded as in other of the master's great works. That is, until I heard the commentary that accompanied a short collection of out takes from the film, included in the DVD. Somehow, hearing the story of this film's convuluted production, of Flaherty's angst, and, especially, of Murnau's own disregard for taboo when building his Tahitian reTreat, added gravity that made the viewing experience completely satisfying. (The short on Reri, the 16 year old 'barefoot contessa" was equally as fascinating.) Now we all look forward to the imminent release of SUNRISE.

I really like this film and I appreciate the scholarly approach of the DVD. But with all that, why was not the intregrity of the of the original format -- the frame -- considered more relevant when the transfer was made to the DVD format. Compare the scenes on original trailer on the DVD to the same ones in the movie and you'll see that part of the picture is missing.

Of the thirties of the last century, this story is of Bora-Bora Romeo and Juliet with a similar tragic end.

As a Legong - Dance of the Virgins, it is interesting for both depicting then locals in their natural environment from a historical perspective and a way CIVILISED movie-makers had done it.

Sight and Sound, the BFI film monthly, reports that Murnau fell out with Flaherty over the latter's inability to sustain a dramatic narrative and respectively continued alone with his cinematographer. If this very beautiful print is based on the Milestone restoration, then a few scenes (since restored by the more recent British release) including some integral nudity, are still missing. (S&S gave high points to the MIlestone restoration). Also, of note is that the financing deal for the film fell through just as production got under way and Murnau financed this production primarily with his own money that he had made in Hollywood before becoming disillusioned, so the budget was tight as it was on Nosferatu. Like Nosferatu, it is one of his few masterpieces that was shot outdoors and outside the expressionist studio sets that contributed so much to the mood and atmosphere on films like Sunrise and The Last Man (or in English, The Last Laugh).
The Bottom line: buy this film, it has all the earmarks of Paul Schrader's description of greatness, including my favorite, "Repeatability" Sunrise, Nosferatu, Faust - they never get old.
(For that matter, neither do Flaherty's Man of Aran and Nanook of the North). Finally, in Hollywood, an entire generation of directors was influenced by Sunrise. The master, John Ford, regarded it as one of the greatest movies ever made and Murnau had direct impact on films like The Informer, The Long Voyage Home, and much of the domestic, wordless business in later westerns like She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, My Darling Clementine, and The Searchers (not to mention making its star, George O'Brien, a member of his floating repertory company and a drinking companion.)