White Shadows in the South Seas

1928
Passed
1h 28m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

An alcoholic doctor on a Polynesian island, disgusted by white exploitation of the natives, finds himself marooned on a pristinely beautiful island.An alcoholic doctor on a Polynesian island, disgusted by white exploitation of the natives, finds himself marooned on a pristinely beautiful island.An alcoholic doctor on a Polynesian island, disgusted by white exploitation of the natives, finds himself marooned on a pristinely beautiful island.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 1 win total

Photos12

+ 5

Top cast6

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Monte Blue

Dr. Matthew Lloyd

Raquel Torres

Fayaway

Robert Anderson

Sebastian - a Trader
(uncredited)

Renee Bush

Lucy
(uncredited)

Dorothy Janis

Native Girl
(uncredited)

Napua

Native Boy
(uncredited)

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
After completing filming on the tropical island, they returned to the MGM lot at Culver City, where W.S. Van Dyke shot some additional material, including a typhoon at sea and a shipwreck. Then the studio decided to make White Shadows in the South Seas (1928) their first sound film, so they added a synchronized soundtrack consisted of a romantic score by William Axt and David Mendoza, with a few sound effects such as wind howling, a storm, trees ruffling and the words "Hello" and "wait."

This was MGM's first sound picture, and it premiered in Hollywood at Sid Grauman's Chinese Theater on Friday, 3 Aug 1928. It is known for being the first MGM film to be released with a pre-recorded soundtrack.

Goofs
The drowned young man's left arm moves by itself.

Quotes
Dr. Matthew Lloyd: For God's sake, go away, Sebastian... these people are like birds... like flowers... they are like man was before he lost the Garden of Eden...

Alternate versions
There is an Italian edition of this film on DVD, distributed by DNA srl, "L'UOMO DI ARAN (1934), NANUK L'ESCHIMESE (1922), OMBRE BIANCHE NEI MARI DEL SUD (1928)" (3 Films on a single DVD), re-edited with the contribution of film historian Riccardo Cusin. This version is also available for streaming on some platforms.

Connections
Featured in Settling the Score (2005)

Soundtracks
Flower of Love
(1928) (uncredited)
Music by William Axt and David Mendoza
Lyrics by Dave Dreyer and Herman Ruby

User reviews24

Review

Featured review

8/10

Gorgeous photography

I saw this film years ago at the Cinematheque in Paris, along with "Moana" and "Tabu". We think of Murnau as a supremely gifted director and Flaherty as an extremely talented documentarist. In fact, Flaherty was involved in all three films, finally directing "Moana" in the end. All three directors ended up going in quite different directions and somehow Van Dyke's marvelous film got lost in the struggle. In fact, his film survived any competition and is still wonderful to watch. It helps to remember too that Van Dyke was very much a studio director, Murnau was quite foreign to the system and Flaherty was not only painfully slow but hardly ever compromised with other directors, not to mention studio heads. Van Dyke came out with a great film and it's all his and his alone.

Curtis Stotlar