Film
Anne of the Indies
Jacques Tourneur • US 1951 • 81min
DCP • enOF+enUT
12.10.2023, 22:30 Cinematograph
»You’re still alive only because I have no wish to spill blood on my cabinet deck.« (Anne Bonny)
Having roamed the high seas since childhood, Anne Bonny now commands her Sheeba Queen proudly and fearlessly through the Caribbean as the Pirate Queen. After capturing a British ship, she promptly takes the French prisoner La Rochelle into her crew. Anne discovers her weakness for La Rochelle, and along with it, her sensuality. Despite the warnings of her foster father and terror of the seas, Black Beard, she engages with the Frenchman.
»Anne of the Indies« based on the even wilder life of the pirate Anne Bonny, is a true adventure spectacle – tropical islands, sea battles, barroom brawls, and even bear fights shine in stunning Technicolor hues. However, the film is only superficially an adventure tale. Saber or gold lame dress? The play with gender roles, their reversal, and questioning thereof take center stage in this swashbuckling, also known as rough-and-tumble, film. The wild Anne (impressively portrayed by Jean Peters) cares not a whit for conventions and always takes her fate into her own hands – until the bitter end. (Judith Salner)
(Digital) introduction to the historical figure of Anne Bonny: Jasmin Lörchner HerStory - Women’s history and queer history
Film Introduction: Nadja Studenik (ContrApunkt)
Über die Reihe GRRRLS TRIPPIN’ – BON VOYAGE!
Director Jacques Tourneur • Writer Arthur Caesar, Philip Dunne • Cinematography Harry Jackson • Edit Robert Fritch • Cast Jean Peters, Louis Jourdan, Thomas Gomez, Herbert Marshall • Music Franz Waxman • Producer George Jessel
Jacques Tourneur (*1904 in Paris; †1977 in Bergerac) was a French-American film director, particularly famous for films like the legendary low-budget horror film “Cat People” (1942) and the noir classic “Out of the Past” (1947). In 2017, the Locarno Film Festival dedicated a retrospective to this versatile genius: “In his works, Tourneur had the ability to envelop the powerful storytelling inherent in the genre into masterful visual poetry, which he perhaps achieved precisely through the fusion of his European and American culture.” (locarnofestival.ch)
