The plot is based on the actual story of one Japanese woman and 30-odd Japanese soldiers and sailors who remained on the island of Anatahan from June 1944 to 1951, when they were evacuated by the US Navy six years after the end of WWII. Due to inter-male conflicts about the woman, as well as probably disease and starvation, only 20 men survived. One of the survivors wrote the book "Anatahan" the movie is based on. However, Sternberg reduced the number of males to 13 for narrative purposes.
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Was Jim Morrison's favourite movie.
Josef Von Sternberg included in this fiction movie, some footage from newsreel, showing the return of the Japanese troops after Japan surrendered in 1945.
Debut of actress Akemi Negishi.