Connection
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas is a american film of genre Drama directed by Robert Flaherty released in USA on 1 august 1931
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931)
Tabu ou Tabu, A Story of The South Seas
If you like this film, let us know!
Add to a movie listTabu ([ˈtapu]; also called Tabu, a Story of the South Seas) is a 1931 silent film directed by F.W. Murnau, a docufiction. 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. The title of the film comes from the Polynesian concept of tapu (spelled tabu in Tongan before 1943), from which is derived the English word "taboo."
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 the hospital after an automobile accident on March 11, 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".
Synopsis
Aged emissary Hitu arrives by western sailing ship to the island of Bora Bora, a small island in the South Pacific, on an important mission. He bears a message from the chief of Fanuma to the chief of Bora Bora: a maiden sacred to their gods has died, and Reri has been given the great honour of replacing her because of her royal blood and virtue. From this point on, she is tabu: "man must not touch her or cast upon her the eye of desire" upon penalty of death. This is painful news to Reri and the young man Matahi, who love each other. Matahi cannot bear it. That night, he sneaks her off the ship, and the couple escape the island by outrigger canoe.Comments
Leave comment :
Suggestions of similar film to Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
There are 27 films with the same director, 73685 with the same cinematographic genres (including 792 with exactly the same 3 genres than Tabu: A Story of the South Seas), 6889 films with the same themes (including 3827 films with the same 2 themes than Tabu: A Story of the South Seas), to have finally 70 suggestions of similar films.If you liked Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, you will probably like those similar films :
, 1h28Directed by Robert Flaherty, W. S. Van Dyke
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Action, Adventure, Romance
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films
Actors Monte Blue, Raquel Torres, Robert Anderson, Dorothy Janis
Rating67%
Dr. Matthew Lloyd, an alcoholic doctor, is disgusted by white people's exploitation of the natives on a Polynesian island. The natives dive for pearls. However, numerous accidents occur and one diver dies. In anger, Dr. Lloyd punches Sebastian, the employer. He tricks Dr. Lloyd onto a ship with a diseased crew (thinking they are ill), and his men rough up Dr. Lloyd and send the ship off into a storm. Dr. Lloyd survives and is washed ashore on an island where none of the natives has ever seen a white man....
Man of Aran (1934)
, 1h16Directed by Robert Flaherty
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Documentary
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Films about the labor movement, Documentaire sur le monde du travail
Rating71%
The film opens with a boy crab fishing. We then observe three fishermen landing a flimsy holed curragh in the force of the wind and the huge waves. Next we see some of the hardships of mundane Aran life: making a field on the barren rocks using seaweed and soil scraped out of rock crevices, fixing holes in the boat with a mixture of cloth and tar, rendering the liver of the giant basking shark. The film follows as the men of Aran harpoon the huge beasts from their bád iomartha (a wooden carvel hulled craft), the film ends with another storm sequence where the distressed family on shore watch the prolonged struggle of the boat to land safely against the elements.
Moana (1926)
, 1h17Directed by Robert Flaherty, Frances Flaherty
Origin USA
Genres Documentary
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films
Rating67%
Tourné sur la petite île polynésienne de Savai'i, le film montre la vie quotidienne d'une famille d'indigènes de l'île, dans le village de Safune.
Jack London (1943)
, 1h34Directed by Alfred Santell
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Biography, Action, Adventure, Romance
Themes Films about writers, Seafaring films, Transport films
Actors Michael O'Shea, Susan Hayward, Virginia Mayo, Osa Massen, Harry Davenport, Frank Craven
Rating51%
The film follows the adventures of the writer-adventurer Jack London (Michael O'Shea) who was, among other things, oyster pirate, hobo, sailor, prospector and war correspondent.
The Last Adventure (1967)
, 1h52Directed by Robert Enrico, Bernard Queysanne
Origin France
Genres Drama, Adventure, Romance
Themes Films set in Africa, Seafaring films, Transport films, Aviation films, Underwater action films, Buddy films
Actors Alain Delon, Lino Ventura, Joanna Shimkus, Serge Reggiani, Odile Poisson, Paul Crauchet
Rating69%
Three very likeable losers fail while they pursue individual goals. Roland Darbont (Lino Ventura) is an inventor who has designed his own engine. Manu Borelli (Alain Delon) on the other hand is a pilot who prepares a spectacular stunt. Both of them are running tests on Darbont's premises when they are joined by Laetitia Weiss (Joanna Shimkus), an artist who builds abstract statues from scrap metal. They nourish each other's hopes and learn to get along with each other.
Dark Journey (1937)
, 1h17Directed by Victor Saville, Alexander Korda
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War, Thriller, Adventure, Spy, Romance
Themes Spy films, Seafaring films, Transport films, Political films, Films based on plays
Actors Conrad Veidt, Vivien Leigh, Joan Gardner, Austin Trevor, Anthony Bushell, Cecil Parker
Rating62%
In the spring of 1918, a German U-boat stops a Dutch freighter on its way to Stockholm, Sweden during the final year of World War I. The Germans board the ship, identify one man as a Belgian spy, and take him prisoner. One of the passengers questioned is an attractive Swiss dress shop owner named Madeleine Goddard (Vivien Leigh) who is returning to Stockholm from a business trip to Paris, where she purchased dresses for her boutique. After returning to Stockholm, Madeleine, who is a German spy, meets with her contacts and provides information on Allied troop movements she acquired in Paris. The information is cleverly concealed in the gowns she purchased. While the Germans believe that she is one of their top spies, Madeleine is in fact a French double agent working to uncover the identity of the new German secret service leader in Stockholm.
Hawaii (1966)
, 3h9Directed by George Roy Hill, James Blue, Richard Talmadge
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Adventure, Historical, Romance
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films
Actors Julie Andrews, Max von Sydow, Gene Hackman, Jocelyne LaGarde, Richard Harris, Carroll O'Connor
Rating64%
The story follows Prince Keoki Kanakoa, the Reverend Abner Hale and his wife Jerusha, who join the prince on mission to the Islands of Hawaii for the Calvinist church with the promise to make Kanakoa a minister. Upon their arrival to the islands, the ship stops in Lahaina, Maui before going on to Honolulu, Oahu where the main church has been established. There they are greeted by the aliʻi nui, Malama Kanakoa, Keoki's mother, who stops the Hales from traveling further when she demands Jerusha remain in Lahaina to teach her to write. Reverend Hale attempts to teach her of the Christian God first but she refuses until she, herself can write. Only after that will she listen to Abner's Christian teachings. As Hale learns, there is a serious difference between a destiny calling to him and the call to recognize the needs of others.
Fire Over England (1937)
, 1h32Directed by William K. Howard, René Clair
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War, Adventure, Historical, Romance
Themes Seafaring films, Politique, Transport films, Political films, Films about royalty
Actors Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Flora Robson, Leslie Banks, Raymond Massey, Robert Newton
Rating64%
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, England is concerned by the impending arrival of the Spanish Armada. In 1588, relations between Spain and England are at breaking point. With the support of Queen Elizabeth I (Flora Robson), English privateers such as Sir Francis Drake regularly capture Spanish merchantmen bringing gold from the New World.
Fire Down Below (1957)
, 1h56Directed by Robert Parrish
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Action, Adventure, Romance
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Buddy films
Actors Rita Hayworth, Jack Lemmon, Robert Mitchum, Herbert Lom, Bernard Lee, Bonar Colleano
Rating59%
After the Korean War, Americans Tony (Lemmon) and Felix (Mitchum) own a tramp boat, the Ruby, which they use for small-scale smuggling around the Caribbean, along with a third crewman, Jimmy Jean (Edric Connor). One day, their bartender contact, Miguel (Anthony Newley), introduces them to an American businessman who has been enjoying the company of beautiful but passport-less European goddess Irena (Hayworth). He has to return to Detroit, but wants to arrange for her to get to another island. They are reluctant, but $1,200 proves very tempting.
Until the End of the World (1991)
, 2h38Directed by Wim Wenders
Origin France
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Action, Adventure, Romance
Themes Films about computing, Seafaring films, Post-apocalyptic films, Films about religion, Transport films, Films set in the future, Political films, Road movies, Cyberpunk films, Dystopian films, Disaster films
Actors Solveig Dommartin, William Hurt, Sam Neill, Tom Waits, Max von Sydow, Chick Ortega
Rating67%
The film takes place in late 1999. India has an out-of-control nuclear satellite in orbit that is about to re-enter the atmosphere at any time, contaminating large areas of the Earth. This has caused a massive panic, with everyone trying to flee the likely impact sites. Caught in a traffic jam, impatient and disconnected Claire Tourneur (Solveig Dommartin) escapes the highway congestion by taking a side road. Her dashboard computer system announces she has left the map zone database and is on her own. She then has a couple of odd encounters, first with a pair of bank robbers (which leaves her with a large amount of cash), then with a hitchhiker being pursued by an armed party. Claire discovers, after falling in love with the enigmatic fugitive, that he is the son of a scientist (played by Max von Sydow), and has absconded with the prototype of a secret research project. Multiple government agencies and freelance bounty hunters are chasing him to recover the device.