Projections of War: Hollywood, American Culture, and World War II (1993)

The book says that the second world war was the most thoroughly documented event in human history. (Note: some of the photos I have below do not come from this book, but from other sources.)

This was a time of the Hays Office, and censorship of the movies, along with the effect of the Catholic Legion of Decency.

The book deals with films covering both Nazism and the Pacific Theater of operations. There is a lot of material on the Nazi films, but I am only going to concentrate here on things that had to do with Japan.

The Nazi propaganda films were considered technically quite good, at least as far as how they were physically made goes. At times clips from Nazi movies and from Japanese movies would be used in American films to try and attack the Axis position. “Redrawn to Allied specifications, hijacked enemy propaganda films supplied the raw material for the most clever and effective of American countermeasures.”

Behind the Rising Sun is an anti-Japanese melodrama from 1943.

There was a production called the Army-Navy Screen Magazine, and episode 15 (1943) was about the Japanese. It consisted of captured footage with narrative voice-over. One of the things it says is “They're smaller than we are, but they make the toughest and most brutal enemy in modern warfare.”

The Frank Capra “Why We Fight” series of films was widely seen and was very influential. I have reviews of a part of that series, called Battle of China.

Battle of China

The Bureau of Motion Pictures produced the movie The World at War (1942), but it turned out to be a flop.

A couple more films the book discusses are The Devil with Hitler, which I have reviewed here:

The Devil with Hitler

Another film with the same actors was That Nazty Nuisance, which I have reviewed here:

That Nazty Nuisance

Both feature a stereotypical Japanese figure.

”The Japanese were, in the glib phrase of the day, hordes of a different color. Though the gallery of yellow-peril imagery-inscrutable orientals, sinister warlords, two-faced servants-was ready-made for wartime propaganda, nothing, not even racism, was simply any longer.”

One of the anti-Japanese films was Gung Ho! (1943). It dealt with the Makin Island Raiders, whose mission was to “kill Japs,” and they proceed to do that quite effectively.

Some (note, some; not all) other films dealing with the Japanese include (and where I can find them short descriptions from auction places):

Ravaged Earth (1942), where they attack China. The film shows the brutality of the Imperial Army in Shanghai and apparently has some very grisly footage.

Song of Victory (1942), where Hirohito is caricatured as a “baying hyena.”

Flying Tigers (1942)(Jim Gordon commands a unit of the famed Flying Tigers, the American Volunteer Group which fought the Japanese in China before America's entry into World War II. Gordon must send his outnumbered band of fighter pilots out against overwhelming odds while juggling the disparate personalities and problems of his fellow flyers. In particular, he must handle the difficulties created by a reckless hot-shot pilot named Woody Jason, who not only wants to fight a one-man war but to waltz off with Gordon's girlfriend. Has John Wayne. Deals with men who are parachuting being shot down.)

The Battle of Midway (1942) (On June 4-6, 1942, a large Japanese force attempted to capture Midway Island in the North Pacific, but was defeated by U.S. forces with a loss ratio of 4:1 in favor of the Americans. On hand was a crew of naval photographers directed by John Ford; their documentary footage was edited together with narration by Hollywood actors. The film covers the attack on Midway, some limited aerial footage, the search for survivors, and aftermath of the battle. ).

Air Force (1943), another film where they shoot men using parachutes. (The crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress, the Pearl Harbor-bound Mary Ann, takes off from San Francisco on December 6, 1941, with a collection of men ranging from grizzled veteran White (Harry Carey) to rookie radio operator Chester (Ray Montgomery) to disgruntled tail gunner Winocki (John Garfield). Along the way, they learn of the surpise attack by the Japanese, and their plane, sent to Wake Island and the Philippines, encounters a furious fight with the enemy that is depicted in stirring aerial battle sequences. As the story unfolds, the men struggle with various personal issues, including one man’s frustrated desire to be a pilot, another’s hope to live up to his war-hero father’s reputation, and a romantic rivalry. A quintessential war film from director Howard Hawks featuring his trademark theme of a group of professionals working together against a common enemy, the picture includes both authentic and re-created war footage; the story culminates in a massive attack on a Japanese fleet. The film garnered four Oscar nominations, including Best Original Screenplay; William Faulkner was an uncredited collaborator on the script. )

Bataan (1943). (Classic WWII thriller set in the Philippines, where American and Filipino forces fight time and the Japanese army to complete a vital bridge. Robert Taylor, Thomas Mitchell and George Murphy head the cast; great combat scenes. 114 min. ). Apparently orphans are bombed.

Destination Tokyo (1943) (Made during World War II, this chronicles a voyage of a U.S. submarine on a secret mission to the very shores of Japan. Much of the film is spent developing the cast of characters that populate the sub. )

Behind the Rising Sun (1943) (As one of the most powerful and controversial films to be made during World War II, Behind the Rising Sun dared to penetrate the isolated society of Imperial Japan to at once show the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers and also the decent Japanese who deplored their government's quest for world domination. ) An ad said “See why the villainous Japs have simply got to be exterminated!”

The Purple Heart (1944), where they murder POWs. (This is the story of the crew of a downed bomber, captured after a run over Tokyo, early in the war. Relates the hardships the men endure while in captivity, and their final humiliation: being tried and convicted as war criminals. )

The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944), where they attack Red Cross facilities. (As the Japanese sweep through the East Indies during World War II, Dr. Wassell is determined to escape from Java with some crewmen of the cruiser Marblehead. Based on a true story of how Dr. Wassell saved a dozen or so wounded sailors who were left behind when able bodied men were evacuated to Australia. )

Dragon Seed (1944)(A heroic young Chinese woman leads her fellow villagers in an uprising against Japanese invaders. The use of Caucasian actors and actresses in oriental roles significantly detracts from the film's realism. Based on Pearl S. Buck's novel of 1942. Features Katherine Hepburn), where they rape and kill women.

God is My Co-Pilot (1945), where they bomb more orphans. (Robert L. Scott has dreamed his whole life of being a fighter pilot, but when war comes he finds himself flying transport planes over The Hump into China. In China, he persuades General Chennault to let him fly with the famed Flying Tigers, the heroic band of airmen who'd been fighting the Japanese long before Pearl Harbor. Scott gets his chance to fight, ultimately engaging in combat with the deadly Japanese pilot known as Tokyo Joe. )

China Sky (1945)(In a hill city of war-torn China, the American mission hospital is run by Dr. Gray Thompson and Dr. Sara Durand, who secretly loves him. Then Gray comes back from the USA with new equipment ...and new wife Louise, who is jealous of Sara, shows herself a coward in the first Japanese air raid, and wants to take Gray back to the States. Others have similar troubles; and Japanese prisoner Colonel Yasuda manipulates them for his own ends.)

Betrayal from the East (1945) (Just before World War II, Japan plants a network of spies and saboteurs in California. Agent Kato, seeking secrets of the Panama canal, recruits carnival barker Eddie Carter, who was there in the army. Also interested in Eddie is alluring Peggy Harrison: another secret agent?. Not as inclined to treason as Kato hoped, Eddie becomes a double agent in a deadly game against a devilish enemy. ) Apparently a lobby display had a dart game with Hirohito's head as the target and an invitation to 'Slap the Jap.'

Blood on the Sun (1945) (Nick Condon is a newspaper reporter working in Tokyo who refuses to toe the Japanese line on the expansionist policies of the anti-democratic Imperialist government. When it become clear to the authorities that Condon isn't going to cooperate and that he has some valuable information and contacts, they decide to get him in their clutches for some interrogations and then dispose of him ). Has James Cagney.

The book also talks a little about the relocation of persons of Japanese ancestry in the U.S., including reference to a 1942 film Japanese Relocation, which I review here:

Japanese Relocation

The Army-Navy Screen Magazine, episode 45, January 1945, dealt with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which consisted of Nisei. This was the “Go For Broke” group, and there is a 1951 film Go For Broke about them.

The book has a chapter on “The Negro Soldier” and shows some of the absolutely absurd forms of discrimination that were going on at the time, including keeping blood plasma segregated by race and type, both.

Another chapter talks about news reels. (Remember; this was before TV, so if someone wanted to see real war footage, you had to go to the movie theaters and watch the newsreels.)



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