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L'île de Pâques (1935)

Directed by John Fernhout, Henri Storck

Documentary · 23m

The first Easter Island documentary, filmed in 1935 when the Belgian naval ship Mercator came to collect Drs. Henri Lavacherry and Alfred Métraux, who had arrived six months before to carry out archaeological and ethnological work. The film, directed with melodramatic gusto and featuring a full orchestral score by Maurice Jaubert (who also did the narration), shows islanders, the monuments, and a public dance. A theme of decay and decadence characterizes the film, the motif portrayed gruesomely by extensive close-ups of the inhabitants of the leper colony there at the time. The film suited a romantic image of a mysterious lost civilization, the survivors eking out a pitiful existence on a barren rock. (Grant McCall)

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Cast

Crew

Director
John Fernhout, Henri Storck
Director of Photography
John Fernhout
Editor
Henri Storck

Details

Release date
1935-05-24
Runtime
23m
Genres
Documentary
Original language
FR
Spoken languages
French
Countries
France, Belgium
Production
Cinéma-Edition-Production