The Battle of China

Six stars. Maybe 6.5, but not enough to round up. Because the whole thing was just too Capra. The Rape of Nanking doesn't need extra tugging at the heart-strings. And the overall tone was just too simplistic. It was, explicitly, a propaganda film, so that's to be expected at some level. But nuance was never Capra's strong point, and here it's too big a problem for me to ignore.

This is one of a whole series of WW2 propaganda films made by various A-list Hollywood directors. Capra was the one who didn't get his own hands dirty, so his films have less of the "you are there" quality than the ones Ford or Huston, say, filmed on location. But they do have great production values, and they are very good at providing the viewer with tactical information.

The maps showing the troop and ship maneuvers, the terrain, the rail-lines, and such were splendid. I did think it telling that there was absolutely no mention of Mao's role, other than the elliptic comments about local rebel groups.

That said, it was a great history lesson for modern viewers about why things played out the way they did. Japan didn't want a two-front war. But they ended up starting one because of pure, stubborn Chinese intransigence. In a sense, they made the same mistake the Germans did in taking on too big an opponent (see Capra's Battle of Russia for more on that).

The history lesson aspect of Capra's WW2 films is the biggest draw for a modern audience. Because they simply can't pack the wow-factor of things like Ford shooting the Normandy invasion. But, if you are interested in that history, this is well-worth an hour of your time. 25 June 2025.

This is direct text book documentary propaganda. You could base a documentary class around this.

It is Capra's World War II documentary about China's turmoil with Japan.

Obviously, we were at war with Japan, and allied with China.

Even today, it could fool some people, but most people have seen just how horrific those "marches" were.

Back to back with Russia, China is shown in the film to strategically move everything Westward, away from Japan. Back to back with Russia, they could use industry, relatively safe with their ally, against Japan, because Russia had to do the same with Germany.

The mass migration, the mass deployments, the mass use of labor, all are shown in true propaganda form as being strategic and heroic. Incredibly, these same images are used today to show immense brutality and inhumanity, as we value human life much more today.

In the forties, patriotism and Nationalism were prize feelings, for better or worse.

This is a well-edited account of a time in US history when the Chinese were our military allies.The "maps and diagrams" by the War Dept.,along with some tight editing,make this essential viewing for all students of history.

Part 6 in a series of 7 films created as a briefing for soldiers but also released for public viewing, these films by Frank Capra for the War Department are simultaneously good propaganda and good history, well told. Footage is from the field, and the historical facts behind the narration are largely accurate and informative, if "embellished". The embellishment is what makes it propaganda, yet it does not diminish the facts presented. I'm very impressed that an informed and largely accurate reading of history could be presented in a way that makes an emotional and moral point about the justness of fighting fascism, deliberate mass murder of civilians and tyranny. (And no, that fight does not justify later bombings of Dresden or Hiroshima and Nagasaki.)

Effective and well done, this is influential film-making during a time of chaos, confusion and disarray. In hindsight we can see that things turned out well for our side, yet at the time these films were made victory against world fascism was definitely not a certainty. These films helped to lay a moral foundation for the open-ended challenges faced then. They also provided a historical context and education about world events leading up to American involvement in the war that most soldiers probably did not possess. Pearl Harbor was correctly presented as a midpoint in Japan's war of aggression, not the beginning of it. This film was a "morning wake up" historical briefing for the sleeping giant's fighters.

Battle of China, The (1944)

*** (out of 4)

WW2 documentary from Frank Capra tells the history of China and their wars as well as how they got involved in WW2 and what they had to do to defend themselves. As with Capra's other WW2 docs, this one here contains some great battle footage, which is pretty remarkable to see. I also find it incredibly interesting at how Capra set these films up so that the viewer gets to know every little detail of how the war was fought. Sensitive viewers might want to stay clear because this is a pretty damn violent film that shows several people being executed by the Nazis and there's also some graphic footage of some babies that were executed.