Inspired by Robert Flaherty, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, two independent cameramen-journalists, left modern society to film primitive tribal life in Southern Persia. Grass is the incredible story of the semi-annual trek by tens of thousands of Baktyari tribespeople in search of grass for their cattle, on which they depend for existence. Seemingly impossible obstacles are overcome as they ford rivers with their flocks, making boats out of goatskin; or cross in bare feet and scant clothing the barren, trailless country, the hearty sometimes finding themselves knee-deep in snow as they break trails for the frail and elderly among them. Unlike Flaherty, Cooper and Schoedsack were intrigued by the unknown, the strange, the dangerous, a mutual interest kindled during the first World War.* Not surprising, then, that after making Grass (1925) and Chang (1927), they went on to make King Kong. Asked why he dreamed up King Kong, Cooper is said to have confided, "To thrill myself." That film also was beloved of the Surrealists, for the "oneiric power, (the) strangeness and...the horrible" (Jean Ferry). *(To complete the Surrealist connection, during the War Schoedsack was cameraman for Mack Sennett who made a reputation filming infantry under heavy fire, according to notes for MoMA by Richard Griffith.)