NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 655, 6 May 1929, Page 15

NEW REGENT

“WHITE SHADOWS OF . . . r . THE SOUTH SEAS” Director W. S. Van Dyke had the most unusual orchestra in the world during the filming of “White Shadows in the South Seas,” the Metro-Cold-wyn-Mayer sound synchronised production, which comes to the New Regent this evening. For five months the company worked on the beach and in the jungles of the South Sea Islands and everywhere they went they took the orchestra with them. It was a native orchestra of six pieces and the musicians had been trained for their parts since their youth. In fact, they inherited their jobs and their instruments from their ancestors, who were musicians for generations back. The drums used by these musicians will be heard in the theatre. They have heads of shark-skin and are of such ancient manufacture that even the oldest Tahitian now living has no idea of their origin, although they have no doubt that they l'ar antedate the coming of the white men to their islands. These drums are objects of great veneration to the natives and there is a tradition that if either of the two should ever be taken from the islands there would be a great disaster. One of the most historic spots in the South Seas was selected for the enactment of this tropical romance and adventure. The village was legated near the native settlement of Arne, on the island of Tahiti. It was built on the seashore near the spot where the great captains Wallace and Cook and other explorers anchored their vessels. To this spot also came the first missionaries ever sent to the islands of the Pacific. They built their homes and laboured for years among the natives without gaining one convert. Here, also, and within the memory of living men, human sacrifices were frequently made to Tane, the chief of the gods, at the temple sites in the valley. Three hundred natives of pure stock, the finest types to be found in the islands, were selected to inhabit this motion picture village. Once they understood that “White Shadows in the South Seas” would constitute an everlasting memorial to their vanishing race, they laboured diligently, partly in their own interests. Only two or three appear in the film. The chief role is that of Doc Matthews and this is taken by the wellknown actor, Monte Blue. Blue has the role of a white man, who, at first, lets the tropics overcome him and sinks to a beachcomber. After a thrilling adventure in which he is lashed to the mast of a plague ship and set adrift, he comes to a native village where white men have never been and wins the sacred village virgin for his bride.