Moguro Fukuzo
gThe Battle of Chinah was a war-time propaganda film directed by Frank Capra. Today, you can watch this film on Youtube and see how people can be easily deceived by fake stories.
The film also provides good source materials to consider the history of the period: What was the real cause of the 1937-1945 Sino-Japanese War?
Jung Chiang and Jon Hallidayfs book gMao the Unknown Storyh says, gStalin had publicly identified Japan as the principal menace. Now, we believe, he activated a long-term Communist agent in the heart of the Nationalist army, and detonated a full-scale war in Shanghai, which drew the Japanese inextricably into the vast heartland of China --- and away from Russia.h (pp.198-199, Chapter 19)
If their observation is true, the 1937-1945 Sino-Japanese War presents a whole different story from s conventional view: It is not that Japan invaded China for her insatiable desire of land-grab and occupation, but rather, that Japanese army was lured into the heart of China Proper and pinned down there by Chiang Kai-shekfs Nationalist forces.
Does the film describe all the important incidents or events precisely true to the historical facts, or present wrong interpretation or otherwise is missing something that had led to the eventual war between Japan and the United States?
The author of this website trusts that, in many ways, gThe Battle of Chinah is a good start to consider all these problems.
At the end of the film, a description comes up to display as follows:
gAll film used in this picture comes from Chinese sources, American and British Army Photographic Services, Missionaries, News reels and captured Japanese filmsh
Sounds like the film is a documentary? However, if this film is a documentary and supposed to reflect the true picture of the war, the author has the following few questions.
1) Why are there some people smiling and laughing during the bombing raids?
(See the Slides 01 through 05 below)2) The 1937 Second Battle of Shanghai took place from August 13 through mid-November. Then, why some people wear summer clothes while the other people wear winter clothes? They cannot co-exist in the heat of summer in Shanghai. (See the Slides 06 through 09 below)
