La Bataille de Chine

This is not a propaganda film; it is an un-propaganda film, as in the "un-cola." If you want to see what propaganda looks like, just turn on Fox "News." "Why We Fight" is pretty straightforward about it's purpose: It is an explanation of how America and its allies got into World War II, and why we need to win it. But the Battle of China is more than that; it is a history of China, a portrait of its people, a description of its geography, as well as a detailed account of the actions of Japan, China and the Allies in the war, up to that point.

It is mostly a statement of facts,aside from the occasional remark about the war as being one of civilization vs. barbarism, or something like that, which is a fairly objective assessment of Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany, and the behavior of their soldiers. As with his populist movies, Capra builds up feeling through his presentation of people and events, rather than hitting you over the head with moralizing.

Most of all, the movie is factual and accurate, as far as it can be, given that the war was in progress, and we did not have access to information historians now have. We would now say that the film is too kind to Chiang Kai-Shek, who Gen. Stilwell and President Truman had little respect for; but what do you expect in the midst of the war? On the other hand, it is quite sympathetic to the guerrilla fighters, who I assume were affiliated with Mao.

I daresay that most viewers would learn quite a bit about history by watching this, whether they are Americans or Chinese. I don't think the Chinese are aware of the support they received from America, who was their ally even before Pearl Harbor. Our support for China in the 1930s may have played a role in prodding Japan to attack us at Pearl Harbor.

The film is also interesting because of the historical footage showing China, its people, cities and farmers, before the war. You look at it and get a sense of its diversity of people, and that it was making a deliberate, well thought out effort toward modernization early in the 20th century. If the war and Maoist Communism hadn't intervened, China would have modernized, perhaps earlier. And in the portrait of China of earlier times, you get a sense of the character still alive in China today, of a reasonable, hard-working, progressive people.

To fully appreciate the style of this film, one must be familiar with Frank Capra's feature films, such as Meet John Doe, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life. Capra has always had a great love of the little people, the average Joe, and you see that respect in his portrayal of the Chinese people. He also has great admiration for American values, and you get the sense of the compatibility of Chinese values, not, perhaps coincidentally, because of the purpose of this film. But you see that respect for China also in a film he made 12 years before, The Bitter Tea of General Yen, so I believe it is sincere.

Why We Fight was made to be shown to the American and allied military, as well as in movie theaters back home, and in Britain.It was the idea of the great but modest General George Marshall. If I were a soldier watching this during World War II, I would come away knowing a lot more about China. I would also understand the strategy and battles to that point, and be in a better position to grasp any future orders.

The remarkable thing about World War II is how much it resists efforts to encapsulate it in one hour packages or series. There is always more to the story. In China's case, there was the role its people played in helping the downed fliers of Jimmy Doolittle's raid over Tokyo in 1942, who had to land or crash their planes in China because it was impossible to return to their aircraft carriers.

This film is still relevant today because of the limited and somewhat distorted view China and the U.S. have of each other and the history of their relationship.

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.

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.

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, like the other films in the series, is a propaganda film. That being said, it is a very good documentary. This is due to three reasons. 1)Capra was a very good director 2)It is truthful - the information is not skewed by the film's agenda and 3)the battle footage speaks for itself. The narration is a bit overdramatic, but that is typical I think of movies in this era. I enjoyed this and will definitely watch the other films in the series.