Anatahan (aka The Saga of Anatahan)

Intrigue, lust and the quest for power abound in this Josef von Sternberg film. Japanese seamen on a remote Pacific island stubbornly man their post long after the end of WWII, refusing to believe their country lost the war. The only other residents of the island are the overseer of an abandoned plantation and his beautiful young Japanese wife. The men vie for power . . . and the woman . . . in a ruthless bid for dominance. Based on the "true" story of Japanese soldiers who were shipwrecked during World War II and refused to believe that the war had ended until six years after Hiroshima. The actors speak only Japanese as the viewer is led through the story by an English-speaking narrator (von Sternberg) who tells the story of a woman stranded on the small island with 30 lecherous men. Adapted from the novel by Michiro Maruyama . Filmed in Japan.