Rotten Tomatoes
Suggestions will appear as you start typing. Submit search Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Eskimo

Play trailer Poster for Eskimo 1934 1h 57m Adventure Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
Tomatometer 4 Reviews 90% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
An ancient way of living clashes with 20th-century civilization when an enterprising Eskimo hunter (Mala) decides to trade furs with a white captain (Peter Freuchen). While the outsider is eager to barter with the native, he is also intent on bedding the Eskimo's wife, resulting in a violent encounter. Before long, the Canadian authorities, led by Inspector White (W. S. Van Dyke), are involved, and both the Eskimo's freedom and traditions are jeopardized.

Critics Reviews

View More
Paul Rotha Cinema Quarterly Feb 3, 2021
Better than the usual run of adapted plays. Go to Full Review Helen Brown Norden Vanity Fair Jun 6, 2019
A pictorial version of the book by Peter Freuchen. If you are interested in the love-life of the Eskimo-with sidelights on his habits at home-this will fascinate you. There is also some magnificent photography. Go to Full Review Pare Lorentz Vanity Fair Jun 6, 2019
Shrewd editing and two handsome Eskimos put this in the first flight of Nature melodramas. Go to Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Feb 2, 2011
B
Looks like a documentary. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Feb 26, 2019 Give it a viewing. Well done. See more Mar 21, 2013 looks like a doc gr8 location shooting 4 1933 See more Feb 4, 2013 Melodrama interspersed with documentary-style footage equals a unique, fascinating motion picture experience. See more Aug 10, 2009 Impressive film directed by WS Van Dyke about, well, Eskimos. The film stars real Eskimos and is pretty much all subtitled while they speak their language. It's cool watching them hunt and fish and stuff, because it's most likely them doing all of that stuff themselves, including hunting seals and whales. This also was the first film to win Best Editing and it is actually very well done. The actual story is pretty predictable (it reminded me a film that was made a couple years before it, White Shadows of the South Seas), but that doesn't really matter. See more Mar 22, 2009 Filmed in a style half of a Documentary and scripted Hollywood. The film makes you see how Eskimos lived before the white man arrived. Once the white man arrives the joy the Eskimo people know is taken away. Ruining the life of the main character Mala. Well filmed for the period incorporating documentary like footage with scripted footage. The film made before animal cruelty laws, you actually see a; Seal, Polar Bear, Whale, Caribou, and Dog killed on film. A great film that shows a world that is no more See more Read all reviews
Eskimo

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING

Cast & Crew

View All

W. S. Van Dyke II

Director

Peter Freuchen

Captain (uncredited)

W. S. Van Dyke II

Inspector White (uncredited)

Ray Mala

Mala, aka Kripik

Peter Freuchen

Writer

John Lee Mahin

Writer
View All

Eskimo

Eskimo (1933) Eskimo (1933) Eskimo (1933) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis An ancient way of living clashes with 20th-century civilization when an enterprising Eskimo hunter (Mala) decides to trade furs with a white captain (Peter Freuchen). While the outsider is eager to barter with the native, he is also intent on bedding the Eskimo's wife, resulting in a violent encounter. Before long, the Canadian authorities, led by Inspector White (W. S. Van Dyke), are involved, and both the Eskimo's freedom and traditions are jeopardized.
Director
W. S. Van Dyke II
Producer
Hunt Stromberg, W. S. Van Dyke II
Screenwriter
Peter Freuchen, John Lee Mahin
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co
Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Genre
Adventure
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 10, 1934, Wide
Runtime
1h 57m
Join The Newsletter Join The Newsletter Cookie Settings