In 1929 both America's leading documentarist, Robert Flaherty and arguably the greatest studio director, F.W. Murnau (Sunrise), were ready to quit Hollywood, where both had been ill-used. Murnau invited Flaherty to collaborate on a film to be shot in Tahiti. On arriving in Tahiti they discovered that the Crash had wiped out their backer. Murnau decided to finance the project himself, on a much tighter budget. Flaherty eventually quit the project. David Flaherty, Robert's brother, notes: "Flaherty's contribution to the film was not in the direction, for that was Murnau's solely, nor in the photography, for which Floyd Crosby won an Academy Award, but in the story.... In short, Flaherty led Murnau to this island paradise, gave him a dramatic story, and Murnau made a Murnau picture there."