White Savage

White Savage is a 1943 American Technicolor South Seas adventure film directed by Arthur Lubin and starring Maria Montez, Jon Hall and Sabu. The film was re-released by Realart in 1948 on a double-feature with the same three stars in Cobra Woman (1944) and again in 1953, under the title White Savage Woman. It was choreographed by Lester Horton.

White Savage
Realart rerelease film poster
Directed by	Arthur Lubin
Screenplay by	Richard Brooks
Story by	Peter Milne
Produced by	George Waggner
Starring	Maria Montez Jon Hall Sabu Turhan Bey Sidney Toler Thomas Gomez Don Terry Paul Guilfoyle
Cinematography	William E. Snyder Lester White
Edited by	Russell F. Schoengarth
Music by	Frank Skinner
Production company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	April 23, 1943 (1943-04-23) (United States)
Running time	76 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.4 million (US rentals)[1]

Plot

Princess Tahia (Montez) is the ruler of the tropical Temple Island. Thomas Gomez plays the villain, who schemes to marry her and get hold of the gold bars lining the submerged floor of the island's temple (about which the innocent islanders remain blissfully unconcerned). Jon Hall plays a heroic shark hunter who wins the day and the heart of the princess.

Cast

• Maria Montez as Princess Tahia
• Jon Hall as Kaloe
• Sabu as Orano
• Thomas Gomez as Sam Miller
• Sidney Toler as Wong
• Paul Guilfoyle as Erik
• Turhan Bey as Tamara
• Don Terry as Chris
• Constance Purdy as Blossom
• Al Kikume as Guard
• Frederic Brunn as Sully
• Anthony Warde as Clerk

Production

White Savage had been the original title for Montez's first starring vehicle, South of Tahiti (1941).^[2]

Arabian Nights was so popular that Universal commissioned two follow-up movies to star Montez, Hall and Sabu – White Savage and Cobra Woman.^[3] Gene Lewis wrote the original script for White Savage.^[4][5]

Montez's costumes in some scenes were considered to be too skimpy, requiring those scenes to be cut.^[6]

Reception

Diabolique said "Not as well known as Montez's later camp classic Cobra Woman (1944) (to be fair, all her American films are camp classics), White Savage is actually a better movie – Montez and Hall seem to genuinely like each other (not always the case in their films), Richard Brooks’ script is clever and there's plenty of action and gorgeous photography."^[7]