The Purple Heart

The story of the fate of a captured American bomber crew from the first air raid on Tokyo. Dana Andrews final speech (taken from a Portugese reporter's news story) to the court is the most moving ever made in a motion picture. Purple Heart produced such a strong emotional response that it was banned in many American cities as detrimental to the war effort.

This movie is essentially the third in a trilogy of films that deals with the actual bombing of Japan by the Doolittle raid, very early in World War Two. The first is "Destination Tokyo," a presentation about the submarine which went ashore to mark targets for the American raiders. The second is "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," which is the story of the Doolittle raid, including the launching of the B-52's from the U.S.S. Hornet and the raid itself. "The Purple Heart" completes the cycle with the war trial of a captured American crew which took part in the attack.

One wonders how so many good things can be put into a movie which lasts only an hour and a half. There is a trial, action, good acting, few technical flaws, very precise and accurate dialogue, questions of honor and decency, patriotism on all sides, questions as to the role of the media, and the ever present suspense of the final resolution. Lewis Milestone deserves commendation for excellent direction, as each scene is composed to blend well with the major ideas in the movie. There is little in the film which is distracting or ill-fitting. And the characters are portrayed with confidence and continuity. In fact, it is difficult to find any character, major of minor, American or Japanese, which is less than complete. It seems some award is in order for the total effort of making this movie.

To borrow a couple of adjectives from its own theatrical trailer, this is one of the most "original" and "gripping" movies about WWII, made by Hollywood's 'Chronicler Of War' par excellence Milestone. It deals with a group of eight American airmen who bail out over China after having bombed Japan; betrayed to the enemy, they find themselves on trial for murder – to which reporters with Communist sympathies from various countries are "invited" to perform jury duty! – since the Japs claim that their targets had been hospitals (which they're ready to corroborate by means of newsreel footage depicting the carnage, even if jury members readily admit amongst themselves to be fake!) rather than munitions factories as the Yanks assert. However, despite the physical and mental torture to which the latter are subjected, all doesn't go smoothly for their accusers: first an opportunistic Chinese Governor, who's a prime witness, is assassinated (by his own upstanding son) in the courtroom and, then, when the Japanese Navy and Military (represented by the wily yet over-confident Richard Loo) themselves lock horns over the means of transportation used by the Americans (which would imply that one or the other was slack in its defense duties!). Being a wartime production, the tone is heavily jingoistic: peppered with homespun recollections of the prisoners' lives back home and displays of camaraderie every time one of them returns from his 'cross-examination', to say nothing of defiance in the face of their impending execution. Milestone's handling never strikes a false note throughout and has selected a sturdy cast besides: led by decent captain Dana Andrews (though the actor preferred to conceal his own operatic background for fear of being typecast, we do get to hear him sing here albeit in unison with his fellow soldiers), Italo-American Richard Conte, youngster Farley Granger and tough-but-compassionate Sam Levene. That said, the film is equally notable for its moody lighting (by top Fox cinematographer Arthur Miller) and inspired art direction (with proceedings mostly confined to the courtroom, prison cell and interrogation room).

From the beginning I was impressed with Lewis Milestone's direction. The film opens in a darkened courtroom (although the emblem of the rising sun can be discerned on the far wall). A man in uniform enters and switches on the lights. Another man enters with a pitcher of water and begins preparing for the ritual of the judges' entrance. The first man begins opening the window blinds. This leisurely accumulation of detail gives these moments a documentary feel that lends verisimilitude to the events that follow. Even when the American heroes respond to their captors with caustic patriotic speeches, there's still an aura of realism that makes it hard to classify this movie along with the cruder propaganda efforts of the times.

Lieutenants Dean E. Hallmark, Robert J. Meder, Chase Nielsen, William G. Farrow, Robert L. Hite, and George Barr; and Corporals Harold A. Spatz and Jacob DeShazer were captured in April 1942. On August 15, 1942, the United States was told by the Swiss Consulate General in Shanghai; that Doolittle Raiders were prisoners of the Japanese at Police Headquarters in Shanghai, China. This movie is based on the real trial August 28, 1942 by the Imperial Japanese Military. The Americans were never told the charges. The Japanese announced the eight men were sentenced to death. The Japanese said a few of them had received commutation of their sentences by the Emperor Hirohito to life imprisonment. October 14, 1942, Hallmark, Farrow and Spatz were told they were to die and allowed to write a final letter to their family. At 5:30 pm on October 15, 1942, the three were executed by a firing squad at Shanghai's Public Cemetery Number 1. The bodies were cremated. The ashes were never sent to the families in the United States.

The other five captured airmen remained in solitary confinement, tortured and starved, these men contracted dysentery and beriberi, their health deteriorating. In 1943, they were moved from Shanghai to Nanking. December 1, 1943, Meder died of the mistreatment. The remaining four men, Nielsen, Hite, Barr and DeShazer survived until they were freed by American troops in August 1945 after the surrender of the Japan.

In February 1946, a War Crimes trial was held in Shanghai. Four Imperial Japanese officers were tried for the mistreatment and executions of the Doolittle Raiders. All were found guilty. Three of them were sentenced to five years at hard labor, the fourth to a nine-year sentence. The light sentences were met with outrage in the United States, that the Japanese soldiers were let off with murder. Hirohito in 1975, during a visit to the United States, refused to answer questions about the executed Doolittle Flyers.

This movie was popular with the American public in 1944.