THE SAGA OF ANATAHAN (1953) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Josef von Sternberg
Akemi Negishi, Tadashi Suganuma,
Kisaburo Sawamura, Shoji Nakayama
Josef von Sternberg traveled a long way from Hollywood to make this oddity, filmed on a studio set in Japan. It's about a group of Japanese sailors going to pieces on a Pacific island where they're stranded for years after the end of World War Two. There are no subtitles, the actors speak Japanese, and von Sternberg's ominous, awkward narration constantly telegraphs events before they occur. But there are moments of strange power, especially at the end, when the survivors return home, and the ghosts do, too. The movie barely got released, bombed critically and commercially, and all but disappeared, effectively ending von Sternberg's career.
