Documentaries @ SBS

They Filmed the War in Colour: The Pacific War

28 May 2008 | 11:59 - By SBS

Email to friend

Enlarge text

Friday 31st May 8:35pm
Exclusive footage of pre-War Japan to Pearl Harbour, Guadalcanal, Saipan, Midway, as well as kamikazes and atomic devastation, this program provides an insight into this war, with previously unseen colour footage.

3 Comments | Join the discussion

On December 7, 1941, Japan, allied to the forces of the Hitler-Mussolini Axis, launched its attack on Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt reacted immediately and thrust the United States into the war, turning it into a global conflict. American Marines, supplied with cameras and colour stock, were to film many events.

One of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers, John Ford, was called in by the Navy to recreate the Japanese attack. For the bombing scenes and the destruction of the battleships, he had to make do with models, but it looked too fake so it was withdrawn from circulation.

Roosevelt, who understood the impact of images on public opinion, decided to treat the war with realism. He sent cameras to film the lives of men in the line of fire, starting with the aircraft carriers that had survived Pearl Harbor. In 1942, they left for war, sailing across the Pacific in search of the Japanese fleet. Most of the men had no training so they did their training on board. When Roosevelt declared war on Japan, his military advisers knew they didn't have the means to launch an immediately successful counterattack.

The US had to resign itself to its enemy's expansion into southern Asia. In just a few months, the Japanese notched up conquest after conquest. They got the British out of Singapore and the Americans out of the Philippines.

Part 1 includes footage of Japan's invasion of China in 1937 and ends on the eve of the attack on Saipan.

Part 2 airs Friday 6th June 8:30pm

Share article:

top

Blog Home

Previous Post | Next Post

Comments (3)

06 Jun 2008 21:24 AEST

robojocks

From: deer park

Alot of inaccuracies and false facts and just copies from american public domain movies

This is just a copies of free US war department video. Its not exculsive, just do a search on google. He gives his own verison of events which aren't true. Its kind of anti american movie. The stupid comments like "americans didnt understand that the japanese will to die", Why do you think the bombed the hell out of the islands they wanted to invade?. Then he goes the americans at home were partying while the americans at the war were dieing. False again. They had rationing of food at home.

Agree (0 people agree)

Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this

06 Jun 2008 21:23 AEST

Jack McGovern

From: Liverpool

Agree

Yeah, it was crap. the History Channel coverage was much better.

Agree (0 people agree)

Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this

06 Jun 2008 21:08 AEST

Chris Kirtley

From: Kangaroo Point

Terrible pronunciation

I couldn't believe the narrator pronounced Chiang kai shek as "Chai-ang kai shek" - I felt the whole thing lost credibility. The Pacific War started with Japan's invasion of China. It's a well-known and not difficult name to pronounce. I've noticed a lot of this lately on SBS programmes.

Agree (4 people agree)

Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this

Join the discussion

PLEASE NOTE: All submitted comments become the property of SBS. We reserve the right to edit and/or amend submitted comments. HTML tags other than paragraph, line break, bold or italics will be removed from your comment.

About this Blog

Documentaries portray powerful themes and critically engage with the SBS Charter, a principal function of which is to provide broadcast programs which reflect Australia's wonderfully diverse multicultural society.