La Habanera" (1937), directed by Douglas Sirk, is a lushly poetic and boldly modern musical drama decades ahead of its time. Set in Puerto Rico, where a Swedish woman named Astrée Sternhjelm becomes trapped in a loveless marriage to a cruel, wealthy landowner. The film explores themes of exoticism, cultural clashes, and the dangers of both physical and emotional isolation. It features a love triangle, a tropical fever outbreak, and compelling performances by Zarah Leander as Astrée and Ferdinand Marian as Don Pedro.

Douglas Sirk gilds La Habanera with all the dazzling compositions, swooping camera work, and ravishing but doomed characters that distinguish his revered 1950s Universal melodramas. Coolly precise yet extravagantly emotional, La Habanera is the work of an assured cinematic poet and compelling tragedian already at the peak of his skill.