Happy Birthday, Robert J. Flaherty! Born today in 1884 as Robert Joseph Flaherty, this American filmmaker co-edited, shot, wrote, produced and directed the first commercially successful feature-length documentary film: the pioneering 1922 American silent black and white history/documentary film 'Nanook of the North'.
Flaherty is also best known for co-writing, producing and directing the 1948 American black and white drama film 'Louisiana Story'.
Although the events and characters depicted are fictional and the film was commissioned by the Standard Oil Company to promote its drilling ventures in the Louisiana bayous, it is often misidentified as a documentary film when in fact it is a docufiction.
Although the events and characters depicted are fictional and the film was commissioned by the Standard Oil Company to promote its drilling ventures in the Louisiana bayous, it is often misidentified as a documentary film when in fact it is a docufiction.
Prior to this, Flaherty co-wrote and co-produced German film director F. W. Murnau's 1931 French Polynesian silent black and white drama/romance docufiction film 'Tabu: A Story of the South Seas' (sometimes simply called 'Tabu').
Flaherty had been active from 1922–1950.
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