Tabu

One of the last classic silent movies, this supreme example of poetic cinema brought together the German expressionist Murnau with the American mining engineer turned ethnographic documentary film-maker Robert J Flaherty. Both were in their 40s, leaders in their field, yet discontented with Hollywood, which had brought Murnau to California where he'd just made three big, unprofitable films, one of them the universally acclaimed Sunrise. With studio money they escaped to spend a year around Tahiti making their "Story of the South Seas", recruiting non-professional talent to appear in a tale of the doomed romance between a handsome pearl fisherman, Matahi, and his exotic lover, Reri. Their idyllic romance is interrupted by her nomination as an untouchable priestess, and they flee to a neighbouring island that's been contaminated by civilisation and where they're pursued by a tribal shaman.

The film credits Murnau as director, Murnau and Flaherty as "told by" authors, and Floyd Crosby as cameraman. The film has no inter-titles, all verbal information being conveyed (like Murnau's The Last Laugh) via signs, letters and official records. But though the story is simple it reflects the tension between Flaherty's belief in the direct observation of primitive people and Murnau's Germanic commitment to a belief in fate. Crosby's images – working with static cameras that eschew Murnau's characteristic fluidity – areshimmering, silvery, blindingly hypnotic. They brought him that year's Oscar for best cinematography. In an eclectic career he was later to shoot New Deal documentaries, High Noon and Roger Corman horror flicks. Tragically Murnau died in a driving accident at the age of 42, a week before Tabu's New York premiere. This handsome Blu-ray restoration is accompanied by several documentaries and an excellent booklet.