Last of the Pagans

Last of the Pagans
Last of the Pagans
	Ray Mala and Lotus Long
Directed by	Richard Thorpe
Screenplay by	John Farrow
Based on	Typee; 1846 novel; by Herman Melville
Produced by	Phil Goldstone
Starring	Ray Mala ; Lotus Long
Cinematography	Clyde De Vinna
Edited by	Martin G. Cohn
Music by	Nat W. Finston
Production; company	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by	Loew's, Inc.
Release date	December 20, 1935
Running time	70 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Tahitian/English

Last of the Pagans is a 1935 MGM film based on the Herman Melville novel Typee (1846).[1]

The film was shot on location in Tahiti.[2][3]

Plot summary

Taro is a native of the island of Tofua who kidnaps a wife named Lilleo from the neighboring island while bride hunting. At first she greatly dislikes him but comes to love him. During a feast, an American schooner arrives at the island and offers liquor and trinkets such as pocket watches to the natives if they sign a form they can not read which forces them to work in terrible conditions in the phosphate mine on the island of Patua for the Olympic Mining Company. Taro is sent to the mines and Lilleo is taken back to Tafoa to marry the chieftain. During a mine collapse, Taro risks his life to save his supervisor which greatly impresses his captors. They agree to bring him Lilleo, but they change their mind when they learn she is the chieftain's bride. Disheartened, Lilleo sneaks aboard the schooner to Patua without their permission. They find out and lock her in a cabin but she escapes to meet Taro. They bring her back to the schooner and Taro follows suit but is imprisoned by the French authorities in a dilapidated prison. During a hurricane the roof of the prison flies off and Taro escapes to the schooner, which has been abandoned by all except Lilleo. He saves her and after the storm clears they sail for an uninhabited island to start a new life together.

Cast

Ray Mala as Taro
Lotus Long as Lilleo
Rudolph Anders as Superintendent's Assistant
Chester Gan as Chinese Cook (uncredited)
Rangapo A. Taipoo as Taro's Mother (uncredited)
Teio A. Tematua as The Chief (uncredited)
Charles Trowbridge as Mine Superintendent

References

LAST OF THE PAGANS (M.-G.-M.) Picture Show; London Vol. 35, Iss. 889, (May 16, 1936): 21.
Dick Thorpe: All-American Levy, Shawn. Film Comment; New York Vol. 29, Iss. 1, (Jan 1993): 76.
A Director of a Tropical Film Has A Visitor's Usual Odd Experiences: Dick Thorpe Discovers All Strange Phenomena of Distant Islands. By Richard Thorpe. (Director of "Last of the Pagans"). The Washington Post 8 Dec 1935: M1.

External links

Last of the Pagans at IMDb
Last of the Pagans at TCMDB
Last of the Pagans at AllMovie
Last of the Pagans at the American Film Institute Catalog
Last of the Pagans movie file at Archive.org

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[1] LAST OF THE PAGANS (M.-G.-M.) Picture Show; London Vol. 35, Iss. 889, (May 16, 1936): 21.

[2] Dick Thorpe: All-American Levy, Shawn. Film Comment; New York Vol. 29, Iss. 1, (Jan 1993): 76.

[3] A Director of a Tropical Film Has A Visitor's Usual Odd Experiences: Dick Thorpe Discovers All Strange Phenomena of Distant Islands. By Richard Thorpe. (Director of "Last of the Pagans"). The Washington Post 8 Dec 1935: M1.