KAMIKAZE - This documentary by Perry Wolff concerns the events in the Pacific during World War II. Film footage chronicles the Japanese preparation for the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the events that led up to the attack. Plenty of evidence is given to prove more was known about the enemy activities than the military or the American people were told at the time. From the invasion of China, to the crushing defeat brought on by the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, this film explains the sequence of events of war in the Pacific.
Bonus feature:
KNOW YOUR ENEMY - is a fascinating propaganda film put out in 1944 by the U.S. Department of War; directed by Frank Capra, this film combined newsreel footage, captured Japanese film, images from Japanese movies of the 1930s, and several recreated scenes to show young American soldiers just what the Japanese soldier was like and why it was so important that he be killed in large numbers. This, the last of Capra's "Why We Fight" videos, is probably one of the least familiar of America's World War II propaganda films because the war ended right on the heels of its release. I do not believe it was ever released to the American public during the final stages of the war, at least in part due to the graphic nature of its presentation. Horrible pictures of slain soldiers as well as innocent civilians are strewn throughout the sixty-four minute production.
DECEMBER 7, 1941 - In the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, director Gregg Toland is tasked by producer John Ford, both now serving in the navy, to film a documentary about that infamous day. What Toland provided was an 82 minute documentary that featured not only the attack but focused heavily on the local Japanese population's supposedly large role as spies providing information to the homeland. Ford took over the direction of the film and the military eventually released a 34 minute version focusing on the attack. The longer version features Uncle Sam telling the audience how naive America was before Pearl Harbor with recreations of Japanese people collecting information in preparation for the attack.
Bonus features:
"PEARL HARBOR NEWSREEL"
Special on Pearl Harbor attack
"FORMAL JAPANESE SURRENDER"
The Japanese surrender to end the War with The Allies.
"RECOGNITION OF THE JAPANESE ZERO FIGHTER"
(Hosted By Ronald Reagan)
Information about the Japanese Zero fighter plane (Dramatized story)
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