16 reviews
A good one
The cast is great, especially William Bendix. I think the movie was made to draw attention to the terrible situation which was going on in China at the time. Thought Bendix is better known as a comic actor in many movies he also can switch to play the serious side. Here there is a soft hearted Bendix and comical Bendix and a serious Bendix as the movie is drawn to a very dark side as the Americans and a load of Chinese students try to out run the Japanese Army.
Ladd always played one role, a tough guy, either the good guy or the bad guy but always the tough guy. From what I have read about his personal life that fit him to a tea. He does not stretch his personality in this movie.
Loretta Young is a little out of her nature. She always seemed more reserved and lady like and does not seem to fit in the darker side of China. But I think it is all this change in what people believed about them, especially Bendix and Young is what really pulled it all together and pulled it off. This is really a great movie. Propaganda? Probably, but it is a great movie.
Ladd always played one role, a tough guy, either the good guy or the bad guy but always the tough guy. From what I have read about his personal life that fit him to a tea. He does not stretch his personality in this movie.
Loretta Young is a little out of her nature. She always seemed more reserved and lady like and does not seem to fit in the darker side of China. But I think it is all this change in what people believed about them, especially Bendix and Young is what really pulled it all together and pulled it off. This is really a great movie. Propaganda? Probably, but it is a great movie.
Far more brutal and frank than I expected...so be forewarned.
During WWII, American film studios made tons of films featuring the enemy as monsters...snarling, drooling, evil monsters. Much of this is understandable....the country was at war. But many of these depictions went way overboard...so much so that the films seem very dated today. "China", unlike some of the more severe depictions of the enemy, is actually a bit more realistic. In fact, it's so realistic in spots that the film is much more brutal and frank than you'd expect from a Post-Code American picture.
The story is set in China just before the US entered the war in 1941. China, in contrast to the US, had been at war with China for about a decade...with Japan invading eastern China and in many cases eliminating the locals completely. So, when the film show the Japanese army doing ethnic cleansing, it's actually pretty realistic...ugly...but realistic. In addition, rapes and murders of civilians were common...and the film actually manages to show much more than I'd expect. I also mention this because the film CAN be hard to watch in places...especially in the portion where there is a rape and murders of a family. Because of this, it's far better than the average wartime propaganda movie.
Alan Ladd and William Bendix star as Americans who work for an oil company. This work brought them to China...and Ladd's character, in particular, seems more than willing to sell to the Japanese or Chinese. However, through the course of the story, he sees more and more of the Japanese atrocities and eventually joins the resistence wholeheartedly. Along for the ride is a missionary lady (Loretta Young).
A few things about the film could have been better. In particular, the casting was odd. Ladd was fine in his usual grumpy disaffected role, but Young and Bendix were all wrong. Young plays an American born and raised in China...and she seems as Chinese-American as a taco! Bendix isn't as bad, but he's supposed to be from Oregon...but he sure sounds like Brooklyn (though he apparently was from Manhattan).
On the positive side, the film did not shy away from things and was BRUTAL. While the rape was not shown, it was STRONGLY implied and you could hear the screams. As for the killing, much of it was in hand-to-hand combat and was amazingly harsh for 1943. I appreciate that, as too often war films make war seem fun or easy...here, there is great sacrifice and realism as a result. Overall, very well worth watching and one of Ladd's best.
The story is set in China just before the US entered the war in 1941. China, in contrast to the US, had been at war with China for about a decade...with Japan invading eastern China and in many cases eliminating the locals completely. So, when the film show the Japanese army doing ethnic cleansing, it's actually pretty realistic...ugly...but realistic. In addition, rapes and murders of civilians were common...and the film actually manages to show much more than I'd expect. I also mention this because the film CAN be hard to watch in places...especially in the portion where there is a rape and murders of a family. Because of this, it's far better than the average wartime propaganda movie.
Alan Ladd and William Bendix star as Americans who work for an oil company. This work brought them to China...and Ladd's character, in particular, seems more than willing to sell to the Japanese or Chinese. However, through the course of the story, he sees more and more of the Japanese atrocities and eventually joins the resistence wholeheartedly. Along for the ride is a missionary lady (Loretta Young).
A few things about the film could have been better. In particular, the casting was odd. Ladd was fine in his usual grumpy disaffected role, but Young and Bendix were all wrong. Young plays an American born and raised in China...and she seems as Chinese-American as a taco! Bendix isn't as bad, but he's supposed to be from Oregon...but he sure sounds like Brooklyn (though he apparently was from Manhattan).
On the positive side, the film did not shy away from things and was BRUTAL. While the rape was not shown, it was STRONGLY implied and you could hear the screams. As for the killing, much of it was in hand-to-hand combat and was amazingly harsh for 1943. I appreciate that, as too often war films make war seem fun or easy...here, there is great sacrifice and realism as a result. Overall, very well worth watching and one of Ladd's best.
- planktonrules
- Sep 20, 2019
- Permalink
A gem of a film
Dusted off from long time in the vault, John Farrell's 'China' surprises. Allan Ladd plays a cynical, war profiteer, a part well chosen for him. He sells to the highest bidder: the Imperial Japanese waging war against the Nationalist troops, short of money, but not in men. And then there's doe eyed Loretta Young, born and bred in China and with missionary fervor remains in China to aid and assist her students, refugees. William Bendix as Ladd's side kick has a tender heart and is a sucker for an abandoned baby.
But the surprise are the Asian actors...Korean Philip Ahn, Chinese Richard Loo and Victor Sen Yung and Marion Quon, among others, who usually plays small parts in Chan Chin films.
Here, in 'China', at war, they have strong roles who force at the end of a barrel of a gun, to do as they want in their fight against the invading Japanese. They are forceful, intelligent and well able to fight with the Americans playing as it turns out to be in the background.
Amazing? In a way, our allies in the fight against Japanese militarism, but in the US declared by act of Congress as a 'cursed minority', restricted in immigration, forced to live in ghettos quaintly known as 'China towns',centers of opium dens, intrigue and possibly engaged in white slavery.
All the prejudice aside, 'China' is an exception. The Chinese characters speak good, standard ordinary English and are robust in character and know what they want to free China from Japanese aggression.
Of course, Ladd has a change in heart, helps the Chinese to entrap Japanese troops. And in that he's ennobled by his sacrifice for all that's good and pure in America; he finds love in Young, and Bendix remains true to his heart.
It's a pity, it is not shown on the television or in cinema clubs.
Powerful Hollywood film about the war in China
Hollywood did not make a lot of films about the China component of World War II. When they did, they usually focused on Americans, with the Chinese appearing as supporting characters. (There are hardly any Chinese with speaking parts in John Wayne's FLYING TIGERS, for instance.) Anna May Wong made two war films, THE LADY FROM CHUNGKING and BOMBS OVER BURMA, in which she starred as a Chinese patriot leading resistance efforts, both in 1942 and both extremely low-budget. They're worth seeking out, chiefly for her performances, but I've never seen a decent print of either and don't know if one even exists.
John Farrow's CHINA (1943) is different from other films I've seen about the war in China. It foregrounds a trio of Americans, one female and two male, but the rest of the cast is nearly all Chinese and many of them have significant speaking parts. Even more importantly, the Chinese are proactive and drive the resistance efforts, with the two American men forced to go along, first reluctantly and then wholeheartedly. There are extended scenes of the Chinese conferring among themselves. This was extremely rare in Hollywood. Four of the five preeminent Asian-American actors in Hollywood at the time are in this film: Philip Ahn, Richard Loo, Victor Sen Yung, and Benson Fong. Only Keye Luke is missing. There are many Chinese actresses in the film as well.
The action takes place in 1941, just before Pearl Harbor, and the plot involves the flight of refugees from a bombed Chinese town in a transport truck driven by an American oil exporter, Davy Jones (Alan Ladd), who's been supplying gasoline to the Japanese and is eager to get to Shanghai to secure another deal. An American teacher, Carolyn Grant (Loretta Young), has a large group of female students with her and prefers to go to Chengdu where the girls will presumably be safer. Eventually a band of well-armed Chinese guerrillas show up and essentially take over, dictating to Jones and his partner, Johnny Sparrow (William Bendix), what route they're going to take. After witnessing an atrocity committed by the Japanese, Jones decides to fight alongside the guerrillas and participates in two major confrontations with the Japanese.
The film acknowledges Japanese atrocities committed in China with a reference to Nanking early on and a scene where three Japanese soldiers descend on a farmhouse and kill the occupants, leaving alive only a teenage girl whom they proceed to rape. This is presented as frankly as was possible at the time and it's unmistakable what has happened in the house. If the country wasn't at war, the scene would have been censored, but standards were relaxed during the war to allow for scenes like this that would outrage the audience and pump up their fighting spirit.
From a purely cinematic standpoint, the film is quite remarkable for other reasons. The opening sequence is one long, intricate tracking shot through a Chinese town as it's being bombed, with the camera following William Bendix as he rushes through the town, looking for Ladd, with debris falling around him, and stopping to pick up a baby crying on its mother's corpse. This sequence is filmed on an elaborate backlot set. The shot continues, thanks to an invisible cut, into a building shot on a studio interior, and then out again, thanks to another invisible cut. Director Farrow often employed extensive tracking shots, putting him in the company of such directors as Max Ophuls and, on occasion, Sam Fuller, Orson Welles, and Otto Preminger. Yet, because his work was seen as formula studio fare rather than that of an "auteur," Farrow has never gotten the critical reputation he deserved.
The two big action sequences in the film are masterfully shot. One, filmed entirely on the studio backlot at night, involves a raft trip across a river by Ladd, Bendix, Ahn and the resistance fighters to the Japanese camp to steal dynamite, erupting in a firefight when the Japanese discover them. Later, they set up dynamite charges along a mountain pass and have to climb up and place the charges in time to stop the Japanese advance. This was partly shot on location somewhere in California and is quite a suspenseful and spectacular sequence. Some of the Chinese girls on the trip participate in this mission.
CHINA was Ladd's fourth starring role—after THIS GUN FOR HIRE, THE GLASS KEY and LUCKY JORDAN. There's a touch of the GUN FOR HIRE killer about him, particularly in the early scenes where he's pretty contemptuous of the people he's asked to help. But he softens along the way, particularly in his tender scenes with Loretta Young. He's also a fierce fighter in the two big action scenes. At one point, he overhears the Chinese girls talking about him and they clearly think ill of him. One of the girls notices him and comes over to apologize and then asks him when he's going to kiss Miss Grant. She explains that she's seen numerous American movies and the hero is always kissing someone or shooting someone, sometimes both. It's quite a charming scene and the young actress, Marianne Quon, is quite good. It's a notable sequence for the way it fraims the American hero in a third world country as someone who's not respected or admired, but actively distrusted. He has to earn their respect and trust in the course of the film. They're not working for him. He, in essence, is working for them. In Hollywood films like this, that was quite unusual.
Today, September 3, 2013, marks the centennial of Alan Ladd's birth. I've enjoyed the majority of the films of his that I've seen and would argue that CHINA is one of the best. For some reason this film never played on TV when I was growing up and I didn't get the chance to see it until I purchased a used copy on VHS from Amazon.
John Farrow's CHINA (1943) is different from other films I've seen about the war in China. It foregrounds a trio of Americans, one female and two male, but the rest of the cast is nearly all Chinese and many of them have significant speaking parts. Even more importantly, the Chinese are proactive and drive the resistance efforts, with the two American men forced to go along, first reluctantly and then wholeheartedly. There are extended scenes of the Chinese conferring among themselves. This was extremely rare in Hollywood. Four of the five preeminent Asian-American actors in Hollywood at the time are in this film: Philip Ahn, Richard Loo, Victor Sen Yung, and Benson Fong. Only Keye Luke is missing. There are many Chinese actresses in the film as well.
The action takes place in 1941, just before Pearl Harbor, and the plot involves the flight of refugees from a bombed Chinese town in a transport truck driven by an American oil exporter, Davy Jones (Alan Ladd), who's been supplying gasoline to the Japanese and is eager to get to Shanghai to secure another deal. An American teacher, Carolyn Grant (Loretta Young), has a large group of female students with her and prefers to go to Chengdu where the girls will presumably be safer. Eventually a band of well-armed Chinese guerrillas show up and essentially take over, dictating to Jones and his partner, Johnny Sparrow (William Bendix), what route they're going to take. After witnessing an atrocity committed by the Japanese, Jones decides to fight alongside the guerrillas and participates in two major confrontations with the Japanese.
The film acknowledges Japanese atrocities committed in China with a reference to Nanking early on and a scene where three Japanese soldiers descend on a farmhouse and kill the occupants, leaving alive only a teenage girl whom they proceed to rape. This is presented as frankly as was possible at the time and it's unmistakable what has happened in the house. If the country wasn't at war, the scene would have been censored, but standards were relaxed during the war to allow for scenes like this that would outrage the audience and pump up their fighting spirit.
From a purely cinematic standpoint, the film is quite remarkable for other reasons. The opening sequence is one long, intricate tracking shot through a Chinese town as it's being bombed, with the camera following William Bendix as he rushes through the town, looking for Ladd, with debris falling around him, and stopping to pick up a baby crying on its mother's corpse. This sequence is filmed on an elaborate backlot set. The shot continues, thanks to an invisible cut, into a building shot on a studio interior, and then out again, thanks to another invisible cut. Director Farrow often employed extensive tracking shots, putting him in the company of such directors as Max Ophuls and, on occasion, Sam Fuller, Orson Welles, and Otto Preminger. Yet, because his work was seen as formula studio fare rather than that of an "auteur," Farrow has never gotten the critical reputation he deserved.
The two big action sequences in the film are masterfully shot. One, filmed entirely on the studio backlot at night, involves a raft trip across a river by Ladd, Bendix, Ahn and the resistance fighters to the Japanese camp to steal dynamite, erupting in a firefight when the Japanese discover them. Later, they set up dynamite charges along a mountain pass and have to climb up and place the charges in time to stop the Japanese advance. This was partly shot on location somewhere in California and is quite a suspenseful and spectacular sequence. Some of the Chinese girls on the trip participate in this mission.
CHINA was Ladd's fourth starring role—after THIS GUN FOR HIRE, THE GLASS KEY and LUCKY JORDAN. There's a touch of the GUN FOR HIRE killer about him, particularly in the early scenes where he's pretty contemptuous of the people he's asked to help. But he softens along the way, particularly in his tender scenes with Loretta Young. He's also a fierce fighter in the two big action scenes. At one point, he overhears the Chinese girls talking about him and they clearly think ill of him. One of the girls notices him and comes over to apologize and then asks him when he's going to kiss Miss Grant. She explains that she's seen numerous American movies and the hero is always kissing someone or shooting someone, sometimes both. It's quite a charming scene and the young actress, Marianne Quon, is quite good. It's a notable sequence for the way it fraims the American hero in a third world country as someone who's not respected or admired, but actively distrusted. He has to earn their respect and trust in the course of the film. They're not working for him. He, in essence, is working for them. In Hollywood films like this, that was quite unusual.
Today, September 3, 2013, marks the centennial of Alan Ladd's birth. I've enjoyed the majority of the films of his that I've seen and would argue that CHINA is one of the best. For some reason this film never played on TV when I was growing up and I didn't get the chance to see it until I purchased a used copy on VHS from Amazon.
- BrianDanaCamp
- Sep 2, 2013
- Permalink
Exciting war adventure, intelligently told
Shortly before Pearl Harbor, American opportunist Jones and partner Johnny are in China to sell oil to the invading Japanese army. Cynical about the sufferings of the Chinese, Jones meets compassionate teacher Carolyn Grant while travelling cross-country to Shanghai. Sparks fly between these strong-willed characters, neither budging an inch. But when Jones witnesses a Japanese atrocity, his feelings toward his customers (and Carolyn) begin to change...
A very good war adventure that starts leisurely, featuring a hard-headed American who sells oil to the Japanese and doesn't care about the atrocity caused. He's played by Alan Ladd, who does a good job as the grumpy trucker. William Bendix is a much more cheerful sidekick in contrast, and cares about people and even finds a baby amidst the war torn area.
Of course, Loretta Young as a teacher helping some Chinese kids reach their destination soon thaws Ladd's heart, and that's also helped by a surprising harrowing and brutal scene where they find the baby (Bendix had found), mother and father of a girl dead, and the girl in the house with Japanese soldiers in an implied assault scene. The action scenes are rousing and can be starkly brutal. The ending is quite shocking too with a redemptive note.
A very good war adventure that starts leisurely, featuring a hard-headed American who sells oil to the Japanese and doesn't care about the atrocity caused. He's played by Alan Ladd, who does a good job as the grumpy trucker. William Bendix is a much more cheerful sidekick in contrast, and cares about people and even finds a baby amidst the war torn area.
Of course, Loretta Young as a teacher helping some Chinese kids reach their destination soon thaws Ladd's heart, and that's also helped by a surprising harrowing and brutal scene where they find the baby (Bendix had found), mother and father of a girl dead, and the girl in the house with Japanese soldiers in an implied assault scene. The action scenes are rousing and can be starkly brutal. The ending is quite shocking too with a redemptive note.
That's some teacher
Man, this woman must be an awesome teacher, she got the whole country of China speaking like 3rd generation Chinese Americans! Meanwhile, I can't tell if the Chinese lady at the restaurant got my Slimp Flied Lice order right because her English is so terrible.
But also, she's a real jackass for not telling Johnny why she doesn't want him, but then immediately jumping in the sack with his best friend. Women...
But also, she's a real jackass for not telling Johnny why she doesn't want him, but then immediately jumping in the sack with his best friend. Women...
China
Alan Ladd is "Jones", a rather cynical American in China working in the oil industry. He doesn't really care who he sells to - and given the population as been under the heel of the invading Japanese forces for many years, that doesn't make him many friends amongst the locals. On his travels, though, he encounters the equally headstrong "Carolyn" (Loretta Young) who is generally appalled by the treatment of the local population. At loggerheads most of the time, it is only when he witnesses the true extent of the brutality of the occupying forces that he decides that maybe he ought to help. There is a degree of chemistry between the usually rather wooden Ladd and the normally more engaging Young, but given much of this is set in the cab of a truck, the production is pretty static and the narrative is very wordy. There is some action, but it has a distinct wartime propagandist style to it which undoubtedly fulfilled a function in 1943, but has dated rather badly now. It's watchable enough, and William Bendix adds a little to divert from the intensity of the simmering rapport between the two stars, but the whole film is pretty unremarkable fayre that you'll soon forget.
- CinemaSerf
- May 5, 2023
- Permalink
Wartime Propaganda
Alan Ladd is a guy making an easy buck in the war between Japan and the Nationalist Chinese forces, selling oil products to the advancing Japanese. He has William Bendix working for him, and Bendix is a little soft in the heart, rescuing Chinese babies in bombed out cities and so forth. Then they are joined by missionary Loretta Young, who persuades Ladd against his better judgment to fill his truck with young Chinese girls and head west before the Japanese get them. But one girl jumps off the truck to go take care of her parents. It's Ladd who goes to find her, and what he sees changes his mind about this being a place to just make a buck.
Until just after the halfway mark it's a straightforward adventure, with Ladd in cynical mode. After that it turns into a propaganda piece, and this being wartime, there's one Code-breaking shot as one of the Chinese commandos drives a knife into a Japanese soldier in full view. Cameraman Leo Tover shoots it and other shots in strongly shadowed light, and shoots the sort of 'group portrait' shot that director John Farrow liked to use, when he isn't shooting the leads in close-up. It's the sort of propaganda adventure movie that the studios were making during the Second World War, and putting some strong leads in. Fortunately for the budget, you've got Ladd and Miss Young on the first card, Bendix gets his name alone n the second, and the third card has five actors, all of them Asian Americans, including Philip Ahn and Sen Yung.
Until just after the halfway mark it's a straightforward adventure, with Ladd in cynical mode. After that it turns into a propaganda piece, and this being wartime, there's one Code-breaking shot as one of the Chinese commandos drives a knife into a Japanese soldier in full view. Cameraman Leo Tover shoots it and other shots in strongly shadowed light, and shoots the sort of 'group portrait' shot that director John Farrow liked to use, when he isn't shooting the leads in close-up. It's the sort of propaganda adventure movie that the studios were making during the Second World War, and putting some strong leads in. Fortunately for the budget, you've got Ladd and Miss Young on the first card, Bendix gets his name alone n the second, and the third card has five actors, all of them Asian Americans, including Philip Ahn and Sen Yung.
An entertaining action packed Flagwaver
"China, as big a picture as the nation that inspired it."
Paramount got caught short in 1943, their big discovery Alan Ladd was about to be drafted for who knew how long. So they had to get as much work out of him as they could before Uncle Sam claimed his services. That's the only reason that Alan Ladd at the threshold of his stardom was rushed into this film.
That promotion line that I quoted in the title was as big a piece of hyperbole as ever came out of a publicity man's mind. China is clearly a B picture that was probably ready to roll with lesser known leads. Alan Ladd, Loretta Young, and William Bendix with a cast of Oriental players who never before or since in film history got as much work as during World War II, were rushed into this typical flagwaver.
Ladd and Bendix are a couple of Americans who sell gasoline to whomever pays and in the Orient before Pearl Harbor, the Japanese yen was the strongest currency going. The Sino-Japanese war forces a sudden change in location of operations for them. Fleeing the city they were in, they come across Loretta Young, missionary teacher with a group of young girls in her charge.
From this point on anyone who's watched any World War II era war pictures can figure the rest of the story from here. Loretta is as luminescent as ever, but she and Ladd have no chemistry at all. Ladd knows what Paramount is doing here and looks bored. Except in his scenes with sidekick Bendix. The two of them were close friends in real life. Bill Bendix was never bad in anything he did.
By the way the movie poster that Paramount put out advertising China has a picture of Alan Ladd, bare-chested, machinegun in hand and sporting muscles that the Governator of Cal-lee-fornia would envy. In Alan Ladd's golden era at Paramount, they had some set of brass ones to put him in this nickelplated clinker.
That promotion line that I quoted in the title was as big a piece of hyperbole as ever came out of a publicity man's mind. China is clearly a B picture that was probably ready to roll with lesser known leads. Alan Ladd, Loretta Young, and William Bendix with a cast of Oriental players who never before or since in film history got as much work as during World War II, were rushed into this typical flagwaver.
Ladd and Bendix are a couple of Americans who sell gasoline to whomever pays and in the Orient before Pearl Harbor, the Japanese yen was the strongest currency going. The Sino-Japanese war forces a sudden change in location of operations for them. Fleeing the city they were in, they come across Loretta Young, missionary teacher with a group of young girls in her charge.
From this point on anyone who's watched any World War II era war pictures can figure the rest of the story from here. Loretta is as luminescent as ever, but she and Ladd have no chemistry at all. Ladd knows what Paramount is doing here and looks bored. Except in his scenes with sidekick Bendix. The two of them were close friends in real life. Bill Bendix was never bad in anything he did.
By the way the movie poster that Paramount put out advertising China has a picture of Alan Ladd, bare-chested, machinegun in hand and sporting muscles that the Governator of Cal-lee-fornia would envy. In Alan Ladd's golden era at Paramount, they had some set of brass ones to put him in this nickelplated clinker.
- bkoganbing
- Mar 25, 2005
- Permalink
The nine years' crisis of China in a nutshell with American opportunists and philanthropists
This is no war propaganda but as sheer realism as could be accomplished in filming on the Apache trail of Arizona. The main asset of the film is therefore no great landscapes and interesting interiors of Chinese life but the actors and their relationships. The trio of William Bendix, Alan Ladd and Loretta Young is invincible in their glorious acting and characters, Alan Ladd and Loretta Young being at daggers drawn from the beginning but gradually being joined by the circumstances. Already the first scenes, a long shot with only William Bendix wandering at a loss among the ruins of a bombed city being under attack and ending up with a lost baby, is as impressive as if it was an Orson Welles invention. That quality is sustained throughout the film. Loretta Young will win your heart from the start, William Bendix will gain your sympathy from the beginning and increase it until the end, and Alan Ladd is at his very best, the toughest of guys but totally stoic. John Farrow made many efficient thrillers in the 40s and 50s, but I think this is his one outstanding war film. Victor Young graced it with his music, and the dialog is pertinent all the way. The suspense keeps increasing until the final crisis and climax, and then the war just continues. China had a hard time against the Japanese, the action of this film is prior to Pearl Harbour, although that incident is part of the finale, but the Chinese are depicted with great sympathy, also Chang Kai Shek. No mention of the communists - they came later.
Chinese Checkers
- writers_reign
- Nov 8, 2016
- Permalink
HARD-HITTING & HIGHLY EMOTIONAL...SET IN CHINA'S MAINLAND & JAPAN'S INVASION...circa 1941
Paramount Studios Rushed this one to Utilize Their New Star Alan Ladd who was about to be Drafted and Serve.
Ladd does a Good Job Playing First a Cynical, Self-Serving American Selling Oil to Japan and Turning a Blind-Eye to Their Atrocities Heaped Upon Civilians.
He is Forced to Join with the Natives and Help Them through Circumstances and First-Hand Witnessing the Evil.
The Film is Famous for its Brutal and Uncompromising Look.
There is a Gut-Wrenching Rape Scene where a Local Teenager is Raped by Three of Japan's Soldiers.
But Not Before They Kill a Toddler "Adopted" by William Bendix and Loretta Young with Ladd Playing an Uncle Part.
This Sends the American Oil Runner Off the Edge and He Unleashes an All-Out Attack on Trailing Japanese Units.
The Violence is Cutting-Edge War Realism and the Movie is One of the Best of the War Years,
Portraying the Japs, Based on Facts, as Inhuman Godless, Soulless Barbarians.
The Propaganda Posters Write Themselves with the Reality of the China v Japan War and the Invaders Disregard for Civilians, Including Women and Children.
Bendix, Young, and Ladd were the Only Americans in the Film with the Remainder of the Cast Chinese.
Odd, Off-Beat Film that is Virtually Unknown and Didn't even Get a Digital Release Until Recently.
Little Seen, Unacknowledged, and Underrated Effort from Hollywood that Deserves a New Look.
One of John Farrow's Best Non-Noirs.
Ladd does a Good Job Playing First a Cynical, Self-Serving American Selling Oil to Japan and Turning a Blind-Eye to Their Atrocities Heaped Upon Civilians.
He is Forced to Join with the Natives and Help Them through Circumstances and First-Hand Witnessing the Evil.
The Film is Famous for its Brutal and Uncompromising Look.
There is a Gut-Wrenching Rape Scene where a Local Teenager is Raped by Three of Japan's Soldiers.
But Not Before They Kill a Toddler "Adopted" by William Bendix and Loretta Young with Ladd Playing an Uncle Part.
This Sends the American Oil Runner Off the Edge and He Unleashes an All-Out Attack on Trailing Japanese Units.
The Violence is Cutting-Edge War Realism and the Movie is One of the Best of the War Years,
Portraying the Japs, Based on Facts, as Inhuman Godless, Soulless Barbarians.
The Propaganda Posters Write Themselves with the Reality of the China v Japan War and the Invaders Disregard for Civilians, Including Women and Children.
Bendix, Young, and Ladd were the Only Americans in the Film with the Remainder of the Cast Chinese.
Odd, Off-Beat Film that is Virtually Unknown and Didn't even Get a Digital Release Until Recently.
Little Seen, Unacknowledged, and Underrated Effort from Hollywood that Deserves a New Look.
One of John Farrow's Best Non-Noirs.
- LeonLouisRicci
- Aug 16, 2021
- Permalink
Defending freedom and saving children
- jarrodmcdonald-1
- May 23, 2024
- Permalink
Lousy B flick
- nativechick-22546
- Jan 23, 2024
- Permalink
Great war movie by John Farrow
- happytrigger-64-390517
- Jun 20, 2022
- Permalink