The Saga of Anatahan (1954)

Directed by Josef von Sternberg
Japan, 1954, b/w, 92 min.
With Akemi Negishi, Suganume, Ikio Sawamura
English and Japanese with English subtitles

Blurb from the HFA website: "Josef von Sternberg’s rarely seen last film reaches the height of stylization: he re-creates the Pacific island setting in a Japanese studio out of paper and cellophane, employing Kabuki-trained actors with no knowledge of English. Based on a factual incident, the film tells of a dozen Japanese merchant seamen shipwrecked in 1944 on Anatahan, where they find a man and a woman. By the time they are persuaded that World War II is over, in 1951, five men have died in fights over the woman. Von Sternberg’sbaroque vision is fully realized in the film he himself considered his best."

Note: Much like the Picasso movie, this movie caught me off guard. The movie was in Japanese without subtitles and dubbing, but had a voice-over explaining the story at regular intervals with the narrative being from the perspective of one of the surivors of Anatahan. When the realization that the entire movie was going to be this way began to sink in, some of the folks in the audience left. Funny how the expectation that a foreign film be either subtitled or dubbed or silent, could itself becomes a distraction while watching one.