Tabu: A Story of the South Seas

The Milestone Collection

Filmed entirely in Tahiti, Tabu represented an unusual collaboration between legendary directors F.W. Murnau 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 films, Tabu is all open air and sunlight- the brilliant tropical light sparkles on the ocean and glistens on the beautiful young bodies of the native men and women.

Murnau's tragic death in a car accident on March 11, 1931, just weeks before the world premiere of Tabu, cut short one of film's most brilliant careers. The director of such classics as Nosferatu, The Last Laugh and Sunrise was a genius with an incomparable talent to dazzle the viewer. The 1931 Academy Award winner for Best Cinematography, Tabu is available now for the first time since its original release in the complete uncensored version. Thanks to the UCLA restoration, Tabu is again one of the most gorgeous black and white films ever made.