December 7th

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Movie
German title December 7th
Original title December 7th
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1943
length 34 minutes
Age rating FSK unchecked
Rod
Director John Ford
Gregg Toland
production United States Army Air Forces
camera Gregg Toland
occupation

December 7 (OT: December 7th ) is an American documentary - short film by John Ford and Gregg Toland from the year 1943. The propaganda film was supported by the United States Navy produces and deals with the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 which led to the entry of the United States into World War II .

action

The film begins with a chronological outline of December 7th. The first thing you see in the morning is the city of Honolulu just starting to come to life. A young soldier is supposed to bring some important information to his superiors. A few more sailors play baseball or go to church.

Then, like “locusts”, Japanese planes fly over Oahu and attack US bases on the island. They sink the USS Arizona and destroy the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam while Japanese diplomats in Washington are still negotiating with the United States Secretary of State .

An animated sequence shows a radio tower broadcasting a fictional speech by Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo . The spokesman contradicts the statements sent to the people of Tokyo , Kobe and Okure . After the attack, Honolulu is unrecognizable. The island is put into a state of emergency . Barbed wire and sandbags are used to erect barriers. Even the children have to wear gas masks.

Cut versions

In fact, the film was originally 82 minutes long and asked some awkward questions that fell victim to US war censorship. In addition, some passages were shortened, but not completely deleted, which should arouse sympathy for the Japanese-born inhabitants of Hawaii . The film was eventually cut down to 32 minutes and won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in this version in 1944 . The long version was first broadcast on the pay-TV channel Spiegel Geschichte in 2011 with a foreword by Michael Kloft and Andreas Klib on the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ December 7th. New York Times , accessed February 18, 2013 .
  2. ^ December 7th in the online film database