Taro le païen

I recently had the opportunity of viewing this film. It is in black and white and was made quite some time back, but is well worth seeing.

Concerning French Polynesia, much of the dialogue is non-English, and the translations are a bit scarce; but not needed much--the actions of the characters and what happens to them tells the story quite adequately.

The native men from one island go to another island to steal wives for themselves. The main male character, Taro, kidnaps a woman he especially fancies. She is very unhappy about this--and I fully expected him to drag her back to his island and immediately start raping her, but that is not how it happens. Instead, once he gets there, he courts her-and she begins to become quite taken with his charms.

However, there are white men looking for labor for their mines, and the chief in Taro's village is also taken with the woman Taro wants. You can be sure these things come to plenty of troubles for both Taro and his intended.

This film was quite different from any I have ever seen before. It was excellently done and well told and I would certainly recommend it.

It's a Polynesian paradise. Men are raiding for wives but they are chased away. Taro continues to pursue maiden Lilleo and gets left behind. It's a bumpy romance. Their world is turned upside down with the arrival of the white men.

So the kidnapping is the film's version of a meet-cute. They do proceed according to rom-com rules. It turns into yet something else with more kidnapping. It's trying to be an epic romance. I'm willing to accept it but the original kidnapping does hold it back a little. Overall, this is very good and the tropical locations are beautiful.

This is one of those Romances of the South Seas that MGM liked to offer its patrons every year or so. This one is based on Herman Melville's TYPEE, which I was spared in college and never got around to reading on my own.

I'll take a moment to speculate that the reason Melville was so adaptable to the movies was that at the heart of his boring, obsessively-detailed novels, there was always a good adventure yarn. Screenwriter John Farrow has whittled this one down to a Rousseau-style Romance of the Noble Savage. The Polynesian lovers are played by Mala, who was an Inuit, and Lotus Long, who hailed from exotic Atlantic City. Richard Thorpe, beginning his long career for Metro, got good performances out of the leads, who speak in what I guess is a Polynesian language, extensively subtitled. They undergo courtship, traders who kidnap Mala to work in a collapsing guano mine, and a big storm. Will true love be denied? While the screenplay is hobbled by the Production Code, the photography is superlative, shot by location specialist Clyde de Vinna. If you can turn your ears off, you'll see a fine little silent film here, with some spectacular views.

Last of the Pagans features some quite stunning black and white photography by Clyde De Vinna and a paper thin story designed to please those who like travelogues with a touch of romance. Shot on location in Tahiti, the film is a lightweight take on the Robert Flaherty oeuvre, with numerous tips of the hat to the great documentarist's features, especially his 1926 South Seas epic Moana. Mala--an Alaskan native discovered by director W.S. Van Dyke during production of the similar Eskimo (1933)--plays Taro, the male chauvinist pig who steals beautiful Lotus Long from her native village and claims her as his own. Last of the Pagans is a relentless parade of cultural imperialism and cliches about primitive peoples and noble savages, but it looks absolutely gorgeous. You're best advised to turn the sound down, ignore the subtitles, and soak up De Vinna's superb camera work.

Wonderful island romance! Shot on location in Tahiti this deals with a village where handsome hunky Taro (Mala) falls in love with beautiful Lilleo (Lotus Long). He eventually wins her over but an evil ugly and powerful member of the village wants her for himself.

Shot in beautiful black and white this is a corny but charming little movie. It throws in every cliché you can think of (including a climatic hurricane) but it works! The scenery is beautiful and the two leads are certainly attractive with great bodies. Silly but sweet. Recommended.