The Pagan
About The Pagan
On a South Pacific island, the trader Henry Slater comes for copra and finds that half-caste Henry Shoesmith Jr. owns the largest plantation and will not work it. Shoesmith falls in love with his ward Tito. Slater takes her and the copra away, then forecloses when Shoesmith cannot meet a bank loan, saying he will marry Tito to protect her. Shoesmith carries her off, fights Slater on the water, and tips him to the sharks.
Cast & crew
More about The Pagan
W. S. Van Dyke directed in Tahiti for MGM, with Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg producing. Dorothy Farnum wrote the scenario from John Russell's 1923 novel In Dark Places; John Howard Lawson wrote the intertitles. Clyde De Vinna photographed, and Ben Lewis edited. The New York opening was May 11, 1929, at the Capitol Theatre.
Themes
Background
Released in the spring of 1929, it is a silent story with a disc and film soundtrack, made while MGM was still finishing pictures without recorded dialogue.
Making
MGM sent the company back to Tahiti rather than rebuild the island on the lot. A. Karl Kramer orchestrated the score, and George Nogle and Bob Roberts were on the camera crew.
Reviews
Harrison’s Reports, on May 18, 1929, noted that the advertising called it a part-talking picture even though there were no dialogue scenes, only Novarro’s musical numbers.
Look
Clyde De Vinna, who had photographed White Shadows in the South Seas, shot the Tahiti exteriors.
Technique
The track was prepared for both sound-on-disc and sound-on-film, with music and effects over English intertitles.
Music
William Axt wrote the synchronized score. Novarro sings “Pagan Love Song,” with words by Arthur Freed and music by Nacio Herb Brown. There is no spoken dialogue.
Notes
- The picture has a synchronized score and effects and no spoken dialogue, though it was advertised as a part-talking film.
- Ramon Novarro sings on the track. The theme song is “Pagan Love Song,” lyrics by Arthur Freed and music by Nacio Herb Brown.
- Variety and Hollywood Filmograph reported in July 1929 that the sheet music was among the country's best sellers.
- Ontario censors cut an intertitle that read, “A pagan’s only god is nature; a pagan’s only law is love.”
- Van Dyke and De Vinna had shot White Shadows in the South Seas in Tahiti the year before.
- Trade items first named Edmund Goulding to direct and Frances Marion to write; Van Dyke replaced Goulding, who was then on The Broadway Melody.
Scenes
- Shoesmith offers Slater the copra for nothing and signs the contract.
- Slater forecloses and announces he will marry Tito.
- Shoesmith swims under the dinghy and tips Slater into the sharks.
Influenced by
- John Russell's novel In Dark Places (1923)
- White Shadows in the South Seas (1928)
Influenced
- Pagan Love Song (1950)
Quotes
A pagan’s only god is nature; a pagan’s only law is love.
