December 7th (film)
- Walter Huston
- Harry Davenport
- Dana Andrews
- Paul Hurst
- George O'Brien
- James Kevin McGuinness
December 7 (OT: December 7th ) is an American documentary short film by John Ford and Gregg Toland in 1943, the propaganda film was produced by the United States Navy and treated the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. that led to the entry of the United States into the Second World war.
Action
The film begins with a chronological outline of the 7th of December. First, you can see the city of Honolulu in the morning as they just come to life. A young soldier is to bring some important information to his superiors. Some other sailors play baseball or go to church.
Then, as "locusts", Japanese planes flying over Oahu and attack U.S. bases on the island. You sink the USS Arizona and destroy the Hickam Air Force Base and all that, while Japanese diplomats in Washington are still negotiating with the Secretary of State of the United States.
In an animated sequence a radio tower is shown, broadcasting a fictional speech by the Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo. The spokesman contradicts the statements that are sent to the people of Tokyo, Kobe and Okure. After the attack, you do not recognize Honolulu again. The island is put into a state of emergency. It will be built with barbed wire and sandbags barriers. Even the kids have to wear gas masks.
Background
In fact, the film was originally 82 minutes long and presented some awkward questions that fell of the U.S. war censored. In addition, some passages have been cut, but not removed entirely, should arouse sympathy for the Japanese- Hawaii's people. The film was eventually slashed to 32 minutes and won in this version of the 1944 Academy Award for Best Short Documentary. The long version was first aired in 2011 on the pay- TV channel Spiegel Geschichte with a foreword by Michael Kloft and Andreas Klib the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.