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Shipwrecked Among Cannibals

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Shipwrecked Among Cannibals
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Directed byWilliam F. Adler
CinematographyEdward Laemmle and William F. Alder
Distributed byUniversal Film Manufacturing Company
Release date
  • July 4, 1920 (1920-07-04)
Running time
6 reels
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)
Box office$1,000,000[1]

Shipwrecked Among Cannibals is a 1920 American silent travel documentary film directed by William F. Alder, and released by Universal Studios in July 1920.[2][3]

Production background

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The film featured episodes from Siam, Java, and New Guinea plus an apparently fictitious encounter with cannibals on a small island in the South Pacific. Filming among the tribes in Dutch New Guinea was done by William F. Alder and Edward Laemmle, who was the nephew of Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal Studios.[4]

Reception

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Under the pretense of being an educational ethnographic film, film producers have often justified exploitative elements such as half-clad natives in South Seas island documentaries. At least one educational publication, which appeared to take the film as fully authentic, suggested that this film could with review be used in schools.[5] Although Shipwrecked Among Cannibals generally received good reviews, it did not do well at the box office;[4] however, other accounts say the film was a financial success.[6]

Preservation status

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With no listing in any film archives,[7] Shipwrecked Among Cannibals is a lost film.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Box office at IMDB accessed January 27, 2017
  2. ^ Shipwrecked Among Cannibals at IMDb.
  3. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: Shipwrecked Among Cannibals at silentera.com
  4. ^ a b Imperato, Pascal James; Imperato, Eleanor M. (1992), They Married Adventure: The Wandering Lives of Martin and Osa Johnson, Rutgers University Press, pp. 86–87, ISBN 0-8135-2695-7
  5. ^ "Films Viewed and Reviewed". Visual Education. 1 (5). Chicago: Society for Visual Education: 43–44. September–October 1920. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  6. ^ "You Never Can Tell". Variety. February 4, 1921. p. 32. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
  7. ^ Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: Shipwrecked Among Cannibals
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