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. 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.
An egocentric artillery Captain and his venomous wife engage in relentless 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 a military life with Edgar, reveals on their 25th wedding anniversary that their marriage has been hellish. Edgar, an aging schizophrenic who denies his severe illness, struggles to maintain his ferocity and arrogance, showing disregarding others. 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.