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Movies / On DVD / Tabu
Tabu

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Tabu (1931)

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Reviews Counted:8

Fresh:8

Rotten:0

Average Rating:8.2/10

Runtime: 84 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Filmed in Tahiti, the story of a fisherman who falls in love with a beguiling woman who has been forbidden to men. German Expressionist director F.W. Murnau's last film is one of the most gorgeous... Filmed in Tahiti, the story of a fisherman who falls in love with a beguiling woman who has been forbidden to men. German Expressionist director F.W. Murnau's last film is one of the most gorgeous black & white films ever made. Pioneering documentarian Robert Flaherty (NANOOK OF THE NORTH) co-directed the film, which won the Academy Award for "Best Cinematography." [More]

Starring: Anna Chevalier, Matahi

Starring: Anna Chevalier, Matahi

Director: F.W. Murnau, Robert J. Flaherty

Director: F.W. Murnau, Robert J. Flaherty
Composer: Hugo Riesenfeld, Frederic Chopin, Bedrich Smetana

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Release:

Sep 3, 2002

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Filmed entirely in Tahiti, "Tabu" represents an unusual collaboration between legendary directors F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu, Sunrise) and Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North). Two lovers are doomed by a tribal edict decreeing that the girl is "tabu" to all men. While the lovers' flight from judgment and the ultimate power of the tabu are reminiscent of Murnau's expressionist films, "Tabu" is all open air and sunlight, sparkling on the ocean and glistening on the beautiful young bodies of the native men and women. Now available completely uncensored and restored by UCLA, this cinematic landmark is one of the most gorgeous black and white films ever made, and was the 1931 Academy Award winner for Best Cinematography.
  • Source: Image Entertainment, Inc.
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    Reviews for Tabu

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    1 - 9 (sorted by date)
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    Reviews
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    tomato
    3.5/4

    Magnificent, filled with shimmering, luminescent images that evoke both paradise and paradise lost.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 29 2006 07:04 PM

    TV Guide's Movie Guide

    tomato
    5/5

    Mordaunt Hall

    It is like a picture poem, with its sunshine and happiness in the beginning and its stormy drama in the end.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 28 2006 03:51 AM

    New York Times

    tomato
    4/5

    Emanuel Levy

    No review available.

    comment Comment | Jun., 30 2005 04:35 PM

    EmanuelLevy.Com

    tomato
    3/5

    Thomas Delapa

    No review available.

    comment Comment | May., 19 2005 03:55 PM

    Boulder Weekly

    tomato
    4/5

    Andy Klein

    No review available.

    comment Comment | Apr., 07 2005 05:44 PM

    Los Angeles CityBeat

    tomato
    4/4

    Jeffrey M. Anderson

    If D.W. Griffith created the language of film, he left it up to his successors to add their own personal esthetics. On the short list of the cinema's all time greatest artists belongs the name F.W. Murnau.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 16 2004 05:26 PM

    Combustible Celluloid

    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 24 2003 08:17 AM

    Channel 4 Film

    tomato

    John G. Nettles

    As with so many other great films, this one carries its own burden of real life sorrow.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Nov., 03 2002 08:35 AM

    PopMatters

    tomato

    Jonathan Rosenbaum

    The exquisite tragic ending -- conceived musically and rhythmically as a gradually decelerating diminuendo -- is one of the pinnacles of silent cinema.

    Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 01 2000 12:00 AM

    Chicago Reader

     
     
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