BD 168 The Saga of Anatahan

[rockysds]

Anatahan announced on Facebook.

[What A Disgrace]

August 14

[TMDaines]

Never heard of this, but sounds sweet.

[hearthesilence]

Glad to see we now have a release date. The restoration has been getting excellent reviews across the board.

[Gregor Samsa]

Looks like a pretty stacked edition, too:

- 1080p presentation from a new 2K restoration of the uncensored 1958 version of the film
- Uncompressed PCM soundtrack (on the Blu-ray)
- Optional English subtitles
- The complete 1953 version of the film (Blu-ray only)
- A new interview with Asian film expert Tony Rayns
- Whose Saga? - A visual essay by critic Tag Gallagher
- Saga: The Making of Anatahan – An interview with Nicolas von Sternberg
- U.S. Navy footage of the actual survivors of Anatahan, immediately after their surrender
- Unused footage originally filmed specially for the 1958 version of the film
- Original theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by Philip Kemp, alongside rare archival imagery

[Ribs]

Beaver

I know some people were talking about how he might be relied on a little too frequently but I really can't look at 45 minutes of Rayns as a bad thing.

[MichaelB]

He's absolutely in his element here, in terms of both Sternberg and the complex Japanese issues. It complements the other extras beautifully.

The thing about Tony is that he demonstrably knows his stuff and he's incredibly easy to work with - he's not quite the one-take wonder that Kim Newman is, but he's not far off, which means that both shooting and editing are an absolute breeze. So it's no wonder that labels love to hire him.

[Tommaso]

As so far nobody here seems to have discussed the film itself:

I expected very little from a Sternberg film that late in his career, given that I somewhat liked "Macao" but found "Jet Pilot" basically ridiculous (even though it's entertaining) and even thought "The Shanghai Gesture" not fully up to scratch (as it's even more form over substance than is usual with Sternberg anyway)... and so I only bought "Anatahan" because I was able to get it relatively cheap at ebay and because of a sense of duty which made me feel like I had to see everything directed by Sternberg at some point....

But well... watching it last night I found it completely mindblowing in its intensity, its lack of a proper conventional plot (which isn't a problem at all, because it's all made up for by Sternberg's sense for style and eroticism), and the stunning female lead. In some way this is really an exercise in minimalism, but it all works marvellously and creates an almost hallucinatory experience. I haven't come to terms with this film at all, but I just wanted to post these very initial impressions in order to make others here overcome the doubts they might have about this rather little known Sternberg. I think it's an amazing return to form, and certainly the best thing he directed after "The Devil is a Woman" and "Crime and Punishment".

As to the extras: yes, the Tony Rayns interview is marvellous (as expected), and it's not only there that I learned somewhat as a surprise that "Anatahan" apparently was the only film apart from his debut, "The Salvation Hunters", in which Sternberg was unfettered by producers' wishes/interference. I mean, it's a bit hard to believe that some producer could have meddled with "Der blaue Engel" or "Scarlet Empress" given how extraordinary the results were, but who knows... But the freedom that Sternberg seems to have enjoyed on "Anatahan" certainly completely payed off. For me, a totally unexpected masterpiece, and probably the discovery of the year for me.

[Michael Kerpan]

A fascinating and very good-looking film. The new Blu-Ray looks a LOT better than the antique video copy I had to rely on in the past (not that I wasn't happy to have found a copy of that 15 or so years ago).

[Tommaso]

Yeah, forgot to mention that. The picture quality is outstanding (and I was even only able to watch the dvd version).

One thing I forgot to ask: how was this film released in Japan? I suppose there was no need for a Sternberg voiceover in the Japanese version? And if so, does a 'voice-over-free' version still exist? I'm only asking because I would have found it interesting to understand the Japanese dialogue - which isn't translated in the optional subs that MoC provides - even though probably it was never Sternberg's intention to have the dialogue understood generally by worldwide audiences. And that's another aspect of the film I loved: it basically plays like a silent, with Sternberg's voice-over having the role of a benshi, more or less. And as the film is so very visually 'composed', I could almost imagine it would have been comprehensible even without the voice-over.

[MichaelB]

The lack of subtitles is definitely in accordance with von Sternberg's wishes, but I don't know how it played in Japan. (Did it at all?)

[manicsounds]

The lack of subtitles is definitely in accordance with von Sternberg's wishes, but I don't know how it played in Japan. (Did it at all?)

It played theatrically in 1953. Not sure on if they subtitled the narration or had it entirely in Japanese but Toho did release it.

[htom]

The lack of subtitles is definitely in accordance with von Sternberg's wishes, but I don't know how it played in Japan. (Did it at all?)

This is the most comprehensive paper I've found about the production.

[DeprongMori]

The 1992 book Nitrate Won’t Wait: Film Preservation in the United States by Anthony Slide has an excellent appendix detailing the film elements available, their condition, and the subsequent decisions made for the 1976 restoration of The Saga of Anatahan.

[DeprongMori]

Does anyone know what Eureka used for its source elements for the 2K scan of the 1958 version or for the (unspecified) scan of the original 1953 version? Did they use the “35mm Safety composite fine grain“ from George Eastman House for the 1953? Did they use the 1976 reconstruction/restoration by Film Technology Company for the 1958 version? If so, which elements, from where?