Gow the Killer (1931)

Interesting on two fronts, 10 May 2009

Gow the Killer follows a team of explorers as they cruise the South Pacific Islands searching for cannibals and head-hunters. Remember, this film was made in the 1920s. Places like Fiji, New Guinea, and Samoa were far away, exotic places to be feared. And, remember that in the 1920s, there may have still been some remote islands where cannibalism was practiced. The Gow in the title is a chief whose search for his missing daughter is recounted in the film. But this story is hardly the reason to watch the movie. Instead, Gow the Killer does provide some interesting footage of primitive peoples that cannot be reproduced today. I'm sure they natives were told to "perform" for the camera, but still, there's a glimmer of truth that does come through. And it's for these reasons that Gow the Killer is worth sitting down and watching.

The other interesting facet of Gow the Killer is the attitudes of "civilized" (i.e. white) society toward the natives of the South Pacific. The narrator of the piece would be labeled a racist or worse in today's PC world. And while I'm no champion of political correctness, some of the things this guy says are embarrassing. To say that a native shaving with a clam shell must surely have a different nervous system from whites is one of the more ignorant things I've ever heard. So while I appreciated the scenes of the primitive natives, I was more shocked by the attitudes of the supposedly sophisticated explorers.

5/10