LAST OF THE PAGANS (1935)

This exotic romantic melodrama is set, we are told, "below the Equator, amongst those distant isles where the white man's civilization is but a rumor." (This was filmed in Tahiti in French Polynesia, if that helps.) One of the mating rituals of the islands is that, when one island runs out of eligible single women for their young men, the men go racing off to a nearby island and take however many women they want. Taro is one of a gang of desperate and horny men who travel to an island and chase the women down—to a background score of inappropriately humorous music. A bunch of local lads with spears show up to run them off, but Taro chooses Lilleo in a slightly more civilized manner, and asks permission before taking her. Back on his island, Taro's kindly mother tries to make Lilleo feel at home, and when Taro saves her from a wild boar, his captive bride begins to soften toward him. A ship full of white men comes to the island as they do periodically to shanghai native men to work in enforced slavery in some nearby phosphorus mines. A group of men, including Taro, is lured on board with drinks and trinkets, and Taro, not knowing what he is doing, signs up for five years of work. The next morning, on the mining island, Taro is furious at being taken from Lilleo, but soon he decides to play the game and becomes an ideal worker despite some dangerous conditions—Taro is warned by another worker that the mines' "devil dust tears the throat." When Taro saves the lives of several men during a mine collapse, the bosses decide to fetch Lilleo for him from his island. But when they get there, they discover that she has been claimed by the island's chief. Still, she manages to stow away on the ship, and she and Taro are reunited for a night of sex (not shown but strongly implied). The next day, she is taken back, but Taro is determined to find her again. They reunite on a ship at sea but when a typhoon hits, their happiness is threatened.

Back in the early 30s, it was not unusual for a big studio to produce a movie like this that is part fictional melodramatic narrative (this one supposedly based on Herman Melville's Typee) and part travelogue, though by 1935 this cycle had pretty much worn itself out. The two leads, Mala (as Taro, pictured above) and Lotus Long (as Lilleo), were professional actors—he was an Inuit and she, New Jersey born, was Japanese and Hawaiian. But the rest of the islanders were Polynesian non-actors. They speak their dialogue in their native tongue with large English subtitles onscreen. A good chunk of the 70 minute running time is spent in travelogue mode, with shots of the islands, the natives, the animals, etc., and I got a little bored by that. But the climactic storm makes for a rousing finale, and [Spoiler!] I liked the happy ending, with Taro and Lilleo surviving the typhoon and discovering a new island where they will presumably be Adam and Eve figures. Mala, sometimes credited as Ray Mala, made over 20 movies, including a Flash Gordon serial, and Lotus Long had a similar career, appearing as Asian supporting characters in Mr. Wong and Mr. Moto movies. An interesting novelty. [TCM]