Tabu: A Story of the South Seas

Tabu: A Story of the South Seas is set on Bora Bora, where a young pearl fisherman, Matahi, is in love with a girl named Reri. Their relationship is disrupted when a messenger from a neighbouring island arrives with word that Reri has been chosen to replace a sacred virgin who has died. Because of her beauty, her virtue and her royal blood, she is consecrated to the gods, and from that moment she is forbidden to any man. Matahi and Reri flee their home in the hope of building a life together on a colonial island where the old restrictions no longer apply, but the consequences of the taboo follow them.

The film was directed by F. W. Murnau, his sixth feature after Nosferatu, The Last Laugh, Faust, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and City Girl. He wrote it with Robert Flaherty and Edgar G. Ulmer, and produced it with Flaherty through Murnau-Flaherty Productions and Paramount. The cast is largely made up of islanders, with Matahi as the boy, Anne Chevalier as Reri, Bill Bambridge as the policeman and Hitu as the old warrior. Shot in Tahiti and Bora Bora, it has the feel of documentary observation.

Critical response was strong: on Rotten Tomatoes the film holds 8.5/10 from 14 reviews, while on TMDB it sits at 7.1/10 from 190 votes. Those figures suggest a film that critics rate more highly than general viewers do.