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Eskimo is a american film of genre Drama directed by W. S. Van Dyke released in USA on 14 november 1933 with Ray Mala

Eskimo (1933)

Eskimo
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Released in USA 14 november 1933
Length 1h57
Directed by
OriginUSA
Genres Drama,    Action,    Adventure
Rating69% 3.4868953.4868953.4868953.4868953.486895

Eskimo (also known as Mala the Magnificent and Eskimo Wife-Traders) is a 1933 American Pre-Code drama film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). It is based on the books Der Eskimo and Die Flucht ins weisse Land by Danish explorer and author Peter Freuchen. The film stars Ray Mala as Mala, Lulu Wong Wing as Mala's first wife Aba, Lotus Long as Mala's second wife Iva, Peter Freuchen as the Ship Captain, W. S. Van Dyke as Inspector White, and Joseph Sauers as Sergeant Hunt.

Eskimo was the first feature film to be shot in a Native American language (Inupiat), and the first feature film shot in Alaska. The film also incidentally documented many of the hunting and cultural practices of Native Alaskans. The production for the film was based at Teller, Alaska, where housing, storage facilities, a film laboratory, and other structures were built to house the cast, crew, and equipment.

It was nicknamed "Camp Hollywood". The crew included 42 cameramen and technicians, six airplane pilots, and Emil Ottinger — a chef from the Roosevelt Hotel. Numerous locations were used for filming, including Cape Lisburne in March 1933, Point Hope and Cape Serdtse-Kamen in April to July, and Herald Island in the Chukchi Sea in July. The film crew encountered difficulties recording native speech due to the "kh" sound of the native language. Altogether, pre-production, principal photography, and post-production took 17 months.

The motion picture was well received by critics upon release on 14 November 1933, and received the first ever Academy Award for Best Film Editing, although it didn't fare well at the box office. Scholar Peter Geller has more recently criticized the film as depicting the Eskimo as childlike, simple, and mythic "noble savages" rather than as human beings.

Synopsis

Mala is a member of an unspecified Eskimo tribe living in Alaska. He has a wife, Aba, and an infant son. He and the villagers are shown welcoming a newcomer to their village, hunting walrus, and celebrating the hunt. Mala learns of white traders at nearby Tjaranak Inlet from another Eskimo. Mala learns about rifles and desperately wants one, and Aba longs for needles and other white men's goods. Mala gratefully offers Aba's sexual favors to the man for telling him about the trading ship's presence. Mala and Aba travel to the trading ship with their children, where the white ship captain takes all of Mala's tanned animal skins in exchange for a single rifle. The captain demands that Aba spend the night with him. He gets her drunk and gives her worthless gifts, and has sexual intercourse with her. Mala is upset, but is told by the English-speaking Eskimo Akat that "the white man is always right".

Actors

Ray Mala

(Mala)Lotus Long

(Iva (uncredited))W. S. Van Dyke

(Inspector White (uncredited))Edward Hearn

(Captain's Mate (uncredited))Joe Sawyer

(Sergeant Hunt (uncredited))
And :
Edward Hearn
Edgar Dearing
Trailer of Eskimo

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Source : Wikidata

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