Appendix I
295
The Films of Robert J. Flaherty
1. Nanook of the North (1920-21)
Produced for Revillon Frères, New York
Script, Direction, and Photography: Robert J. Flaherty Assistant: Captain Thierry Mallet
Assistant Editor: Charles Gelbé
Titles written by: Carl Stearns Clancy and Robert J. Flaherty Copyright: May 17,1922
Distribution: USA: Pathé; UK: Jury
Length: 5 reels (approx. 75 minutes) National Film Archive copy: 5,036 feet (silent).
New York premiere: June
11, 1922; London premiere: early September 1922
with: Nanook, Nyla, Alee, Cunayou
Reissued July 1947 by United Artists
Sound Version Producer: Herbert Edwards
Narration written by: Ralph Schoolman
Narrator: Berry Kroeger
Music by: Rudolph Schramur
Supervisor of Sound: Edward Craig Length: 4,500 feet (50 minutes)
Until November 1, 1960, distribution was controlled by Northern Productions of New York City under an agreement made by Revillon Frères. But because the latter company assigned to the Robert Flaherty Foundation in 1956 its controlling interest in the film, control of distribution passed to the foundation on the expiration of the agreement with Northern Productions. In 1960 International Film Seminars assumed ownership of the film. In 1976 David Shepard restored Nanook to its original silent form with titles. An original music score was composed by Stanley Silverman and performed by Tashi. The 1947 sound version and the less complete
296 Appendix I
silent version which
had been available from the Museum of Modern Art were withdrawn
from circulation in favor of the 1976 version. (For a description
of the restoration see Dobi 1977.)
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Additions and corrections have been made using
Murphy (1978) as authoritative source and the editor's personal
knowledge.)
2. Moana (1923-25)
Production: Famous-Players-Lasky
Script, Direction, and Photography: Robert J. Flaherty in association
with Frances H. Flaherty
Assistant: David Flaherty
Assistant Editor: Lancelot Clarke
Titles written by: Robert J. and Frances Flaherty and Julian Johnson
Distribution: Paramount Pictures Corporation
Copyright: February 24, 1926
Length: 6,055 feet (approx. 85 minutes, silent)
New York premiere: February
7,1926; London premiere: late May 1926
with: Ta'avale, Moana, Fa'angase, Tu'ungaita, and Tafunga
Paramount holds the copyright. The only remaining duplicate negative, however, is held by the Museum of Modern Art Film Library, New York, which is allowed to distribute the film nontheatrically in both 35 mm and 16 mm under certain conditions to nonpaying audiences. A sound version is currently being produced by Richard Leacock and Monica Flaherty Frasso.
3. The Pottety Maker (1925)
Produced for the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York (Arts and Crafts Department)
Financed by: Maude Adams
Script, Direction, and Photography: Robert J. Flaherty
Length: 1 reel (approx. 14 minutes)
A copy is held by the Museum of Modern Art Film Library, New York.
4. Twenty-Four Dollar Island (1927)
Production: Pictorial
Films, Inc.
Script, Direction, and Photography: Robert J. Flaherty
Editor: John D. Pearlman
Length: 2 reels (15 minutes, silent)
Distributor: Pathé Pictures
Copyright: December 12,1927
A 17reel copy is held by the Museum of Modern Art Film Library,
New York.
5. Industrial Britain (193l)
Production: Empire Marketing
Board Film Unit, IA)ndon
Produced by: John Grierson
The Films of Robert J. Flaherty 297
Script, Direction, and
Photography: Robert J. Flaherty
Additional Direction and Photography: John Grierson, Basil Wright,
Arthur Elton
Production Manager: J. P R. Golightly
Production Assistant: John Taylor
Editing: John Grierson and Edgar Anstey
Narration spoken by: Donald Calthrop
Distribution: Gaumont-British Distributors, Ltd.
Length: 1,928 feet (approx. 21_ minutes)
First British screening, November 1933 as one of the "Imperial
Six" series.
Copyright and distribution rights held by the Central Office of
information, London.
6. Man of Aran (1932-34)
Production: Gainsborough
Pictures, Ltd. (associate company of the Gaumont-British Picture
Corporation)
Script, Direction, and Photography: Robert J. Flaherty in association
with Frances H. Flaherty
Assistant and Additional Photography: David Flaherty
Additional Photography and Laboratory Work: John Taylor
Laboratory Editor and Scenarist: John Goldman
Recordist: H. Hand
Music: John Greenwood, under the direction of Louis Levy
Distribution: Gaumont-British Distributors, Ltd.
Length: 6,832 feet (approx. 76 minutes, sound)
London premiere: April
25, 1934; New York premiere: October 18, 1934
Characters: Colman "Tiger" King as a man of Aran; Maggie
Dirrane as his wife; Mikeleen Dillane as their son; Pat Mullen,
Patch Ruadh, Patcheen Flaherty, and Tommy O'Rourke as the shark
hunters; Patcheen Conneely, Stephen Dirrane, Mac Donough as the
curragh men.
The copyright is held by the J. Arthur Rank Organisation, Ltd.
7. Elephant Boy (1935-37)
Production: London Film
Productions, Ltd.
Producer: Alexander Korda
Screenplay: John Collier (based on Rudyard Kipling's Toomai
of the Elephants)
Screenplay Collaboration: Akos Tolnay and Marcia de Silva
Location Direction: Robert J. Flaherty
Studio Direction: Zoltan Korda
Assistant Director: David Flaherty
Photography: Osmond H. Borradaile
Production Manager: Teddy Baird
Sound Recording: W S. Bland, H. G. Cape
Music: John Greenwood
Music Director: Muir Mathieson
Editor: Charles Crighton
298 Appendix I
Distribution: United
Artists Corporation
Copyright: In U.S. by London Films Productions, April 22, 1937
Length: 7,300 feet (approx. 85 minutes, sound)
London premiere: April 7,1937; New York premiere: April 5,1937
Characters: Sabu as Toomai; W. E. Holloway as his father; Walter
Hudd as Petersen; Allan Jeayes as Muchua Appa; Bruce Gordan as
Tharn Lahl; D. J. Williams as the hunter; W. Hyde-White as the
commissioner.
8. The Land (1939-41)
Produced for the Agricultural
Adjustment Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture
Script, Direction, and Photography: Robert J. Flaherty, in association
with Frances 11. Flaherty
Additional Photography: Irving Lerner, Floyd Crosby
Production Manager: Douglas Baker
Editor: Helen van Dongen
Music: Richard Arnell
Narration written by: Russell Lord
Narration spoken by: Robert J. Flaherty
Music played by: National Youth Administration Symphony Orchestra,
Director: Fritz Mahler
Distribution: nontheatrical only, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Length: 3,900 feet (approx. 43 minutes, sound)
First shown at Museum of Modern Art auditorium, April 1942.
9. Louisiana Story (1946-48)
Produced for the Standard
Oil Compan~ of New Jersey b~ Robert J. Flaherty Productions, Inc.
Script and Direction: Robert J. Floherty, in association with
Frances H. Flaherty
Associate Producers: Helen van Dongen and Richard Leacock
Photography: Richard Leacock
Editor: Helen van Dongen
Assistant Editor: Ralph Rosenblum
Music: Virgil Thomson
Music Technical Assistant: Henry Brant
Music Recording: Bob Fine
Sound on location: Benjamin Donniger
Rerecording: Dick Vorisek
Music played by: Philadelphia Orchestra, Director: Eugene Ormandy
Distribution: USA: Lopert Films; UK: British Lion Film Corporation
Copyright: September 28, 1945
Length: 6,300 feet (approx. 77 minutes, sound)
British premiere: Edinburgh Film Festival, August 22,1948; London
premiere: June 27,1949; New York Premiere: September 1948.
The Films of Robert F. Flaherty 299
Characters: Joseph Boudreaux
as the boy; Lionel LeBlanc as his father; El Bienvenu as his mother;
Frank Hardy as the driller; C. P Guedry as the boilerman.
Copyright is now held by International Film Seminars.
10. Guernica
(1949) (Unfinished)
Production: Museum of Modem Art, New York City
Direction and Photography: Robert J. Flaherty
Editing: David Flaherty
Introductory Titles: Richard Griffith
Length: 12 minutes, silent
11. A Film Study
of Robert Flaherty's Louisiana Story (1962)
Sponsor: University of Minnesota, made possible by a grant from
Louis W and Maude Hill Family Foundation
Study Material Prepared and Assembled by: N. If. Cominos Study
Project under the Direction of. George Amberg
Narrators: Frances Flaherty and Richard Leacock
Length: 114 minutes, sound
The outtake footage assembled under this title in the custody
of the University of Minnesota is 1,000 minutes.
"Consists of the, opening sequence of Louisiana Story
in the final version, the related outtakes or portions not used
in the final cut, and ends with a repetition of the edited opening
sequence. During the showing of the outtakes Frances Flaherty
and Richard Leacock intermittently discuss the artistic considerations
that went into the shooting of each scene, the day-to-day physical
conditions that confronted them, and the sense of discovery that
was essential to the Flaherty method. "This version is circulated
by the Museum of Modern Art" (Murphy 1978: 111).