"Perhaps the best way to approach films such as The Last of the Pagans and Omoo Omoo the Shark God is to see them as exemplifying a marketing strategy which reduces the author's name to the function of signifying 'literature' as part of the total entertainment package offered by these films." — Hayes, Kevin J. Herman Melville in Context. Cambridge UP, 2018.Omoo-Omoo the Shark God (1949) was, supposedly, an adaptation of Herman Melville's second novel Omoo (1847). The film was only the fifth adaptation for the screen of Melville. It was preceded by The Sea Beast (1926), a silent adaptation of Moby-Dick starring John Barrymore; Moby Dick (1930), a sound remake of The Sea Beast again starring Barrymore and a German-language version filmed simultaneously with it but starring William Dieterle, Dämon des Meeres (1931); and Last of the Pagans (1935), based (barely) on Typee.The "Melville revival" of the 1920s likely contributed to the cinematic interest in Melville of the 1920s and 30s and later, or, as Hayes wrote, at least some recognition within the film industry that Melville's name potentially had some value as a marketing tool.Though it seems reasonably likely that Omoo-Omoo the Shark God played in at least one theater in Troy if not in Lansingburgh, given that the film was screened in Albany and Schenectady, as yet an ad to substantiate such a showing has not been located. However, the search has not yet been exhaustive.
MELVILLE'S ‘TYPEE' WILL BE MONOGRAM FILM"Typee," that splendid impression of the South Seas written by the classic American author Herman Melville, is to be urged to the screen by the Monogram organization. There has been mention in the past of a filmization of this celebrated book, but it had never reached the definite point. George D. Greene is now assigned as the producer, and Jack Natteford, who worked on pictures for the United States government while in the service, from which he was lately discharged, is writing the screen play. Among the service fiims that he made was "B-25" for the use of the Navy. Melville was the author of "Moby Dick," which twice served John Barrymore in his film career. "Typee" was written in 1846, and dealt with the author's adventures among the cannibals of the Marquesas Islands in 1842.Los Angeles Times. January 15, 1944: 6 cols 1-2. [George D. Greene would ultimately receive credits on Omoo-Omoo the Shark God.]Roddy MacDowell, age 19, has his first love affair in the movies. He goes romantic in "Typee" and that's all the romance in Roddy's life at this moment, despite the rumors.Roddy is elated about being in "Typee," a story of Herman Melville, author of 'Moby Dick," and I'll tell you why. Lindsay Parsons (no relation) is not only starring Roddy but is making him an associate producer. This is the beginning of a long-term contract for Roddy with Parsons, and the boys are feeling pretty good about "Typee" which goes to the aristocratic section of Monogram—Allied Artists.Parsons, Louella. "Hollywood." Albany Times-Union. March 8, 1948: 5 cols 1-2. [MacDowell and Parsons would work together on several films, but not an adaptation of Melville.]
Out of respect to the memory of Herman Melville, we say nothing about "Omoo Omoo," the co-feature, for which Melville's work is accused of being the inspiration.Springfield Union [MA]. July 28, 1949: 18 cols 5-6.
