The Dance of Death (1948 film)

{{Infobox film

| name = The Dance of Death

| image =File:The Dance of Death (1948 film).jpg

| caption =

| director = Marcel Cravenne

| producer =

| writer = Michel Arnaud
Jacques-Laurent Bost
Marcel Cravenne
August Strindberg (play)
Erich von Stroheim

| starring = Erich von Stroheim
Denise Vernac
Palau

| music = Guy Bernard

| cinematography = Robert Lefebvre

| editing = Madeleine Bagiau

| studio =Alcina
Ardea Film

| distributor = Atlantis Film
Gaumont

| released = {{Film date|1948|12|08|df=yes}}

| runtime = 88 minutes

| country = France
Italy

| language = French

| budget =

| gross =

}}

The Dance of Death (French: La danse de mort, Italian: La prigioniera dell'isola), is a 1948 French-Italian drama film directed by Marcel Cravenne and starring Erich von Stroheim, Denise Vernac and Palau.{{Cite book |last=Lennig |first=Arthur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HVHg3VOmGL4C |title=Stroheim |date=2003-04-18 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-9044-0 |pages=473}} It is based on August Strindberg's The Dance of Death. It was shot at the Titanus Studios in Rome and the Icet Studios in Milan. The film's sets were designed by Georges Wakhévitch.

Plot

An egocentric artillery Captain and his venomous wife engage in savage unremitting battles in their isolated island fortress off the coast of Sweden at the turn of the century. Alice, a former actress who sacrificed her career for secluded military life with Edgar, reveals on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary, the veritable hell their marriage has been. Edgar, an aging schizophrenic who refuses to acknowledge his severe illness, struggles to sustain his ferocity and arrogance with an animal disregard for other people. Sensing that Alice, together with her cousin and would-be lover, Kurt, may ally against him, retaliates with vicious force. Alice lures Kurt into the illusion of sharing a passionate assignation and recruits him in a plot to destroy Edgar.

Cast

{{Columns-list|colwidth=25em|

Erich von Stroheim, as Edgar{{Cite book |last=Palacio |first=Manuel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VsT7AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA66 |title=Transnational Cinema in Europe |last2=Türschmann |first2=Jörg |date=2013 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-643-90478-2 |pages=66}}
Denise Vernac, as Théa
María Denis, as Rita
Palau as Le sergent / Il sergente
Massimo Serato as Stéphane / Stefano
Paul Oettly as Le général / Il generale
Marie Olivier
Henri Pons as Le timonier / Il timoniere
Roberto Villa
Galeazzo Benti
Margo Lion as Mathilde - la servante
Jean Servais as Kurt
Roberto Bertea