Photographer Wilmon Menard was living in Tahiti, befriended Murnau during filming, and became part of his inner circle on the island. According to Menard's son, filming was most definitely cursed in a very realistic way. Murnau arrived in Tahiti in early 1929 aboard his yacht the Bali, along with a crew, to film, but production was hampered by many things. Accomplished documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty was to be co-director but soon quit over several creative differences with Murnau and returned to America. Filming was delayed by weeks of rain and overcast skies, while heat and humidity ruined a lot of footage that needed to be redone. To preserve his exposed cans of film, Murnau made an arrangement with the Hinano Beer Brewery of Papeete to store them in their refrigerated reefers, then to be transported by steamship to the labs in Hollywood. One afternoon, Murnau decided to make a surprise inspection of his film cans only to find brewery employees sitting about drinking beer and using his film cans for seats outside of the refrigerated compartments. Supposedly he went berserk, screaming, striking and kicking wildly and grabbing a machete to scatter the startled workers.

Film

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