This 1934 black and white film reenacts one of the legends of Pele, and
was apparently shot in Hawaii. It was produced by Alfred Weller, Alfred
Grasso, and Lawrence Barber, copyright Elmer Clifton of The Beverly
Hills Exchanges, and narrated by actor Gayne Whitman. The sun rises
through palm trees in the South Sea Islands (
1:06). A Polynesian women hand-squeezes liquid into a coconut shell bowl (
1:16-
1:25). Polynesian men carry bundles of bananas on poles between them (
1:26-
1:37). A man throws down coconuts, a topless woman uses a machete, and bananas grow on trees (
1:38-
2:05). A man swims with a long pointed stick and catches an octopus (
2:06-
2:42). Polynesian men wearing loincloths move dirt and leaves spread on an underground stove (
2:43-
3:08). Poi is kneaded (
3:09-
3:18). A tablecloth is hand-painted (
3:19-
3:30). A roof is constructed using leaves and twine (
3:32-
3:50). A Polynesian woman in a colorful dress runs to a man in a colorful sarong and bone necklace (
3:51-
3:58). A Polynesian man lurks in the bushes (
3:59-
4:10). Lava boils and spits upwards in a close-up (
4:11-
4:20). A tribesman sees it and runs to warn the others in the village. They get up and run (
4:21-
4:43). An overhead shot shows the lava area (
4:44-
4:52). The camera pans across the volcanic rock island (
5:01-
5:29).
The goddess Pele appears on a rock outcropping as an old hag. She sees
boats and happy women and walks down to steam, turning herself into a
beautiful Polynesian woman and joins the women. The outrigger canoes
arrive and she puts a lei around the handsome chief’s neck, along with
another woman (
5:30-
7:25).
Men and women sit eating an outdoor feast. The two women, one on either
side of the Chief, take turns filling his mouth with food (
7:26-
8:25).
The competing woman dances a Hula for him. Pela magically changes her
outfit and also dances a Hula. She runs to the Chief and falls into his
arms (
8:26-
10:18). The jilted woman leaves to stand by a tree. The Chief brings her back to the circle. Angry, Pele disappears (
10:19-
11:13). Men in loincloths showcase spear catching (
11:15-
11:38).
The Chief throws a lance into a tree and walks with the reunited woman.
Pele watches as he continues throwing the lance into trees. She
disappears, and reappears to the other woman, telling her to walk into
the woods. As Pele watches, the Chief unknowingly throws the lance into
the tree the woman is hiding behind it. Pele smiles at the results (
11:39-
15:18). Hurricane winds blow the palm trees (
15:19-
15:35).
Behind a waterfall, the Chief walks through a dark cave and finds a
pool of large boiling lava flows. He prays for help to restore the
woman’s life before she is thrown into the volcano as a sacrifice.
Volcano footage is shown. At the top of the volcano, she awakens back to
life. Pele becomes a hag again and disappears. The couple embrace (
15:36-
21:40). The volcano is calm again (
21:42). Topless women perform a Hula dance and men dance with machetes (
22:00-
22:42).
The sun sets on the water.
We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide
additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See
something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by
writing something for example: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is
seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference."
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest
historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage
collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available
for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit
http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
