Producer/director/co-writer F.W. Murnau died in a car accident a few days after starting work on the music for this film. It had its New York premiere a week later.
After Murnau shot his final scenes, at a wrap party, he announced he'd be filming Herman Melville's Typee in the islands north of Bora Bora. While he'd been away so long in the islands, talking pictures had taken over the film industry, and Tabu was shot silent. Therefore, back in Hollywood, he had trouble finding a distributor for the film. Murnau had tied up all his money in Tabu and as he was about to declare bankruptcy, Paramount Pictures offered to release it provided they could add a music soundtrack (composed and conducted by Hugo Riesenfeld) and dub in authentic Tahitian chants. Upon viewing the finished film, Paramount offered Murnau a contract enabling him to construct a small studio in Tahiti to produce one island-themed picture a year, to run for ten years with generous financial resources at his disposal. However, on Friday, March 13, 1931, Murnau was killed when his chauffeured limo ran into a utility pole in Santa Barbara, California. Murnau was on his way up the Monterey peninsula to meet with author Gouverneur Morris IV to discuss the adaptation of Typee.
Originally conceived as a co-venture with documentarian Robert J. Flaherty. As work on the project progressed, it became increasingly clear to Flaherty that F.W. Murnau did not adapt well to co-directing and that he was being squeezed off the film. A factor helping Murnau in this was that he was one of the film's chief financiers.
The film's Oscar-winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby was the father of rock legend David Crosby, renowned as a member of The Byrds and, much more famously, of Crosby Stills Nash & Young.
Censored upon release to remove nudity involving local native girls.
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