[1926 - Ta'avale, Fa'angase, Tu'ungaita - black&white - silent - 65 minutes] A docudrama about the social life, customs, ceremonies, and tabus of Western Samoa, where it was filmed with native Samoans. Authentic scenes of everyday life including dancing, tapa making, food preparation, kava ceremonies, and the ritual knee-to-navel tattooing to initiate a young boy into manhood. Directed by Robert Flaherty ("Tabu") Very well made!

[1927 - Clara Bow, Clive Brook, Duke Kahanamoku - black&white - silent with music and subtitles - 64 minutes] Based on Armine Von Tempski's novel about a vivacious "it" girl of the roaring 20's raised on a ranch near Hana in Hawaii. She is the idealized "flapper" woman who remains true to herself amid her artificial, irresponsible friends and family. She swims nude, and in a grass skirt does a dance that appears to be some strange combination of the hula and the Charleston.

[1930 - Kenneth Arlen, Marceline Day, Will Stanton - black&white - 66 minutes] The owner of the "Tonga Gardens Bar" on a south sea island keeps nearly everyone under his control through gambling debts, liquor and loose women, including the local plantation owner. Then the plantation owner's fiancée sets out to reform her intended and a group of sailors arrive singing A Girl in Every Port and searching for pearls. Classic Hollywood style idyllic island scenes of grass shacks, languid sarong-clad wahines, and natives who have nothing better to do than strum guitars, dance, or sleep.

[1931 - Warner Oland, Sally Eilers, Bela Lugosi, Robert Young, Violet Dunn - black&white - 67 minutes] Legendary Honolulu police detective Charlie Chan (Oland) is called in to solve the murder of a movie star who is stabbed while making a film in Waikiki. A visiting psychic (Lugosi) is the number one suspect. The film begins with travelogue-type footage of Hawaii and includes location shots of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (exterior and interior), Waikiki Beach, Kailua Beach, Diamond Head, and Punchbowl.

[1932 - Douglas Fairbanks, William Farnum, Maria Alba - black&white - 70 minutes]  A rollicking adventure in the South Seas! A man makes a bet with his friends that he can survive for a year on a deserted island without any tools or weapons. Luckily he finds a native girl "Friday" to help him. It's amazing what he can do with bamboo and coconuts! Filmed in Tahiti.

[1933 - Errol Flynn - black&white - 63 minutes] This is partially a movie about the infamous mutiny on the Bounty by Fletcher Christian against the villianous Captain Bligh after they leave Tahiti (with bare-breasted Tahitian dancers). And then the film becomes a documentary about Tahiti and Pitcairn Island where the real life descendents of the mutineers still live. This was Errol Flynn's first starring role.

[1937- George Huston, Mamo Clark, Ruth Coleman - black&white - 61 minutes] The handsome singing captain of a pearl fishing boat returns to the peaceful South  Pacific island of Raihoa to deliver his partner's fiancée to him. But upon arriving he finds that his partner has gambled away all his money and a group of unscrupulous pirates are forcing the natives to dive for pearls.

[1938 - Bobby Breen, Mamo Clark, Pua Lani, Ward Bond - black&white - 72 minutes] Based on Don Blanding's "Stowaways in Paradise". Two boys stow away on a ship headed for Honolulu where they are befriended by locals and become involved with spies. Hula dancing by Aggie Auld and Mamo Clark, songs by Harry Owens, Johnny Noble, Charles King and guitarist Eddie Bush: Hawaii Calls, Song of the Island, Down Where the Tradewinds Blow and That's the Hawaiian in Me.  Filmed on Oahu and Maui.

[1938 - Smith Ballew, Evalyn Knapp, Princess Luana -black&white - 62 minutes] Finding that the pineapple plantation he has bought is a barren lava flow, a cowboy accepts work at a nearby cattle ranch where he helps the owner: a pretty girl who is having trouble with her foreman. He gets into fights, romances the girl, and sings lots of songs including Hawaiian Memories, and I Left Her on the Beach at Waikiki. Filmed at the Parker Ranch on the Big Island. 

[1940 - Frances Farmer, Jon Hall - black&white - 98 minutes] A cut-throat gang accompanied by a blonde hostess sails to the uncharted island of Manoa to steal pearls from the innocent Polynesians. The chief's son forsakes his betrothed for the haole hostess, who pretends to love him. Includes background shots of the Kona coast and the Kalapana black sand beach, Hawaiian and Tahitian dancing, as well as Hawaiian musicians Sam Koki and Lani McIntire.