Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Tabu (1931)

Already disenchanted after more than three years in the Hollywood studio system, F.W. Murnau left Fox and joined creative forces with an unlikely partner in the person of Robert J. Flaherty, director of Nanook of the North (1922) and other docudramas.

Following the lead of Flaherty, the duo decided to make a south seas film, without a preconceived storyline. The film, which became Tabu (1931), would be written, cast and shot on location.

The story is a simple one of forbidden love. A young couple of Bora-Bora is caught up in the traditions of their people when the girl Reri is chosen as a sacred maiden to the people of another island and becomes tabu, off limits to the love of the boy Matahi. The couple attempts to buck the traditions, but cannot overcome them. Paradise turns to a hell when Matahi, risking death, retrieves Reri from the ship that was to take her away. Fleeing their people, the couple escape to another island which has adopted more western culture where Matahi become a celebrated pearl diver. Too simple to understand how, Matahi becomes indebted to Chinese merchants. Hitu has also followed them and threatens death if Reri does not return to her obligation. Seeking to escape, the couple attempt to purchase tickets on a leaving schooner but the debts accrued snatched away what money they had. Desperate, Matahi risks his life to dive in a tabu pearl bed for money to escape. But Reri resigns to herself to Hitu’s authority and goes away with him, chased by a swimming Matahi.

Problems in obtaining financing forced Flaherty and Murnau to drop plans to shoot the production in color, and without sound equipment. With determination to complete the film, Murnau put up the production money himself. The film was shot with a skeleton crew, two cameras and a couple of light reflectors. Technical problems are apparent in the film, as Flaherty’s camera began having problems (some footage remained in the final film). Cinematographer Floyd Crosby completed shooting the film (for which he received sole screen credit), and the results are, nonetheless and under the crude circumstances, an artistic triumph.

Returning to Hollywood in late 1930, Murnau edited the film in time for a January 1931 test preview in New York. Murnau raised money to engage Hugo Riesenfeld to write a music score, and final touches were completed by March 1931, when Murnau suddenly died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident on the Pacific Coast Highway. The film opened a week later in New York, and went on to become a critical and box office success worldwide. Crosby received an Oscar for his cinematography.

Apparent only in hindsight is the fact that, made against the surging trend toward synchronized sound, the lesser-known Tabu stands equally with City Lights (1931) as the last great examples of the American silent film.

— Carl Bennett

This Blu-Ray Disc edition, mastered from a very-good to excellent 35mm print of the prerelease version of the film originating from Murnau’s personal collection, has a broad range of greytones that emulate a film print in high-definition well. Occasional examples of dust, speckling, fine scratches, and other print flaws are present after digital clean-up.

The film is accompanied by its original synchronized music and sound effects soundtrack.

Supplemental material includes The Language of Shadows: Tabu, a documentary on the making and restoration of the film (15 minutes); a presentation of alternate takes and outtakes (26 minutes); Tabu: A Work in Progress, a compilation of unused camera footage; and Hunt in the South Seas (1940), a short film utilizing unused footage from the production of Tabu.

We are pleased with this Blu-ray Disc edition of Tabu and highly recommend it for the film’s beauty and historical cinematic significance.

This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .

Supplemental material includes audio commentary by R. Dixon Smith and Brad Stevens, a 15-minute German documentary about Tabu by Luciano Berriatúa, and an 56-page booklet with articles by Scott Eyman, Richard Griffiths, and David Flaherty, an interview with the film’s cinematographer Floyd Crosby, and the original story treatments written by Murnau and Flaherty for Tabu and its aborted predecessor Turia.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film for European collectors. North American collectors will need a region-free Blu-ray Disc player to view this edition.

This Region B Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .

This DVD edition, produced for home video by Bret Wood, mastered from a very-good to excellent 35mm print of the prerelease version of the film originating from Murnau’s personal collection, with a broad range of greytones that emulate a film print well. Occasional examples of dust, speckling, fine scratches, and other print flaws are present after digital clean-up.

The film is accompanied by its original synchronized music and sound effects soundtrack.

Supplemental material includes The Language of Shadows: Tabu, a documentary on the making and restoration of the film (15 minutes); a presentation of alternate takes and outtakes (26 minutes); Tabu: A Work in Progress, a compilation of unused camera footage; and Hunt in the South Seas (1940), a short film utilizing unused footage from the production of Tabu.

This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.

This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .

Supplemental material includes audio commentary by R. Dixon Smith and Brad Stevens, a 15-minute German documentary about Tabu by Luciano Berriatúa, and an 80-page booklet with articles by Scott Eyman, Richard Griffiths, and David Flaherty, an interview with the film’s cinematographer Floyd Crosby, and the original story treatments written by Murnau and Flaherty for Tabu and its aborted predecessor Turia.

This remastered edition replaces Eureka’s 2007 edition noted below in their The Masters of Cinema Series catalogue.

North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

This Region 2 PAL DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

Supplemental material includes audio commentary by R. Dixon Smith and Brad Stevens, a 15-minute German documentary about Tabu by Luciano Berriatúa, and an 80-page booklet with articles by Scott Eyman, Richard Griffiths, and David Flaherty, an interview with the film’s cinematographer Floyd Crosby, and the original story treatments written by Murnau and Flaherty for Tabu and its aborted predecessor Turia.

North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

This Region 2 PAL DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

This DVD edition is the best representation of Murnau’s original film since, according to the disc’s commentary, the video transfer originates from a 35mm print struck from UCLA Film and Television Archive’s 1983 35mm preservation negative copied from an original 35mm nitrate positive previously held by Paramount, the film’s distributor. Prior to restoration, abbreviated prints of poor visual quality circulated and did little to support the film’s reputation. The restoration results are, for the most part, very-good but never approaches excellent image detail or tonal range. Much of the footage is slightly contrasty and a little soft in detail. Some shots jump about in the frame, others are rock steady. But, despite these minor flaws, the beauty of many of Murnau and Flaherty’s carefully-constructed shots and Crosby’s cinematography remains, and the disc does the best possible job of presenting the film on home video. The film does a reasonable job of rendering a filmlike image on HD equipment.

The original synchronized soundtrack was also restored by UCLA and presents Hugo Riesenfeld’s 1931 monaural music score in the best possible quality.

Supplemental material includes informative audio commentary by Janet Bergstrom; the original theatrical trailer from a 35mm print; 35mm outtake footage that ranges from grainy to very-good (24 minutes); and a short 1931 35mm film on actress Reri (4 minutes) with commentary by Bergstrom that adds additional information to that of the main film; a stills gallery (50 images) with script pages (24 images) and telegrams (4 images); and for those with DVD drives in their computers there are clearer PDF reproductions of the same script pages and telegrams.

This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .