Hei Tiki
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Synopsis
On the Isle of Ghosts in New Zealand live the Maoris. Hei Tiki is the native "love charm," a jade or bone ornament symbolizing earthly romance. Tradition has it that the chief's eldest daughter shall be imprisoned and declared taboo until the war god comes to claim her. During an accidental moment of freedom, the chief's daughter meets Manui, the son of the chief of an enemy tribe, while the lad is acting as a spy. They have several rendezvouses but grow fearful of being caught. She is too terrified to leave with Manui, and tradition dictates that they will never meet again. Manui returns with companions and impersonates the war god in order to claim a sacrifice and take her. Upon discovering the fraud, the warriors pursue Manui in canoes, and a bloody battle takes place in the boy's village. Finally, the girl confronts her father, and he interprets the legend to reconcile the tribes in peace.
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The New York Times review credits Alexander Markey with writing, producing, directing and photography. According to that review, Markey, a lecturer and former editor, visited New Zealand nine years prior to making this film and was so impressed by the land's beauty, and the romance of the dwindling Maori population, that he decided to make a film about them. With only a 1912 model movie camera at his disposal, the review continues, Markey spent four years on the North Island staging and filming a native legend with untrained Maoris as actors, "as it might have been done before the coming of the white man." According to Motion Picture Herald, Markey introduces himself in a foreword, and makes periodic off-screen explanatory comments during the picture. The Variety review indicates that Markey mentions that the only death involved in the picture was a native who committed suicide in order to fully realize his role. Variety also notes that a musical score and various native sounds and dialogue are heard on the film's soundtrack. According to Film Daily, the film was shot entirely outdoors. Contemporary sources indicate the picture was originally titled Tiki and was a sequel to Goona-Goona. According to files in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, Mr. Esmond, of the New York Board of Regents, advised James Wingate, a PCA official, that as eliminations for nudity had been made in only five of the film's reels, the film should be entirely rejected. Joseph Breen, director of the PCA, disagreed, saying that "nudity [as in this case] when included in an actual photograph taken in foreign lands of savages, is one thing....The situation, however, is quite different when this nudity is injected into pictures deliberately."
