Film Details

The final feature by the great Joseph von Sternberg (The Blue Angel, The Docks of New York) was an independent production shot in Japan. Inspired by a true case, the film focuses on twelve shipwrecked Japanese sailors who, at the end of WWII, were stranded and forgotten on a remote island inhabited by a man and a woman. They spend the next few years fighting over the woman and vying for control of the island. Pictorially, Anatahan is a masterpiece (as you would expect from von Sternberg, who made Marlene Dietrich an immortal screen icon) and this new digital restoration is derived from the original camera negative. “If the material is fascinating, the treatment is just amazing…Images of staggering beauty.” –Time Out Film Guide. “Could be [von Sternberg’s] masterpiece.” –Dave Kehr. Cleveland revival premiere. In Japanese with English voiceover narration by the director. DCP. 91 min.