''Last of the Pagans'' is a 1935

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

film based on the

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...

novel '' Typee'' (1846). The film was shot on location in Tahiti.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.

Plot summary

Taro is a native of the island of

Tofua Tofua is a volcanic island in Tonga. Located in the Haʻapai island group, it is a steep-sided composite cone with a summit caldera. It is part of the highly active Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone and its associated volcanic arc, which extends ...

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 In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

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 A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

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 Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

as Lilleo *

Rudolph Anders Rudolph Anders (December 17, 1895 – March 27, 1987) was a German character actor who came to the United States after the rise of Hitler, and appeared in numerous American films in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Biography He was born Rudo ...

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

External links

''Last of the Pagans''
at

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''Last of the Pagans''
at TCMDB * *
''Last of the Pagans''
movie file at

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Films based on works by Herman Melville Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1935 films Films based on American novels American black-and-white films American adventure drama films 1930s adventure drama films 1935 romantic drama films American romantic drama films Films shot in Tahiti Films directed by Richard Thorpe Public domain 1930s American films {{1930s-US-film-stub