China's Little Devils

This was a great movie. I remember the garroting scene, the scene where the Japanese soldier was saying that the children will be strung up by their thumbs. The five year old boy holds up his thumbs in defiance and he is pulled back into the crowd. And, of course, "banzai yourself and see if you like it!". Unfortunately, this was one of the films destroyed to make room in a vault for new films. All negatives, and prints were destroyed. The movie will only live on in our memories. there hundreds of films destroyed including one called "Hells a popping'". this was one of the original parody films in the vein of "Airplane" or "The Naked Gun".

I saw this movie with my folks at the Michigan Theater in Detroit, Michigan when it came out first run. I was eight years old at the time. I remember it as being extremely exciting and have remembered it many times over the last half century+. Having come late to the internet and taped movies, I have begun a search for a copy on tape and have so far been unsuccessful.

If my memory holds correct, then it would be, if not a best seller, at least worth a distributor's time and effort to tape it.

There is so much trash made these days that it must be worth while to delve into some of the oldies but goodies.

Thank you!

I also saw this movie when I was young on TV in Los Angeles. It has not shown up anywhere that I'm aware of for nearly 40 years.

"China's Little Devils" is a Monogram Picture. Monogram became Allied Artists in the early 50's. They were bought by Lorimar in (I believe) the 80's. The Lorimar catalog was purchased by (again, I believe) Turner Entertainment which was itself acquired by Warners. I hope I've got the "line of authority" straight! But I'm certain that Warners now owns "China's Little Devils" and hopefully we may one day see a video release of this basically forgotten gem from WWII. Warners has released other Monogram titles, so hope is there.

'Banzai, banzai, and see how you like it...' is the only line I really remember from this movie, but ironically, I remember many scenes. I saw it over and over again when I was around 9-11 (over 40 yrs ago), and would be interested to see how it has aged. I'm somewhat afraid that it would be laughable, but judging from the other comments, I also wouldn't be surprised to see the opposite. I most of all remember how it made the whole world war more real to me, as I watched youngsters my age fight the hated Japanese.

The high rating I give it is based ENTIRELY on what a 9 yr old boy would have rated it back then, but it's all I have right now. So....has anybody anywhere seen this movie for the last 30 years, or know where to find it?

I saw this in the early 1950's broadcast in Minneapolis/St. Paul between late 1953 and 1956. It made a big impression upon me so that I do remember the name but only some sketchy scenes. For an 8 or 10 year old it was exciting.

I never saw it rebroadcast and had almost convinced myself that it was a figment of imagination.

I too would like to view this film to see if it "holds up" over time or would be as laughable as "Action in the North Atlantic" which is only shown now because it has Bogart. Would this movie compare or contrast to "The Big Red One", "Tora, Tora, Tora", "Das Boot" or "All Quiet on the Western Front"?