Product Details

• Actors: Claire Chennault, Kai-Shek Chiang, Madame Chiang, Teh Chu, Winston Churchill
• Directors: Anatole Litvak, Frank Capra
• Writers: Confucius, Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein
• Producers: Anatole Litvak
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Mpi Home Video
• VHS Release Date: May 29, 2001
• Run Time: 65 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300198901
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #371,282 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Battle of China is one of the highlights of The Why We Fight Series. Its lyrical narrative of Chinese accomplishments (the compass, printing, gun powder, and astronomy) provides a splendid backdrop against the war. Although the severe political division between Mao and Chiang Kai Shek are largely overlooked, The Battle of China, more than any other film in the series, presents the human side of the war and the Chinese people's struggle to remain free. This film is more than adequately documented and a real treat for lovers of culture and students of those turbulent times.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" turns to the Pacific Theater, June 19, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Battle of China: Assault on the Great Wall [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The first five volumes in Frank Capra's celebrated "Why We Fight" series focused on Hitler's Nazis overrunning Europe in the first half of World War II. "The Battle of China: The Assault on the Great Wall" shifts the focus to the Chinese defense against Japanese aggression. Like the previous chapter, "The Battle of Russia," an important part of the intent here is to establish a sense of identification between the American people with a foreign ally, although Capra does not have to gloss over the political ideology of the Chinese the same way he did with the Communist Soviets.

This explains why this chapter provides a brief history of China and its people and then details why the Japanese wanted to conquer the country, namely getting the raw materials and slave labor necessary for taking over all of Asia. The War in the Pacific covered, showing the valiant effort by the Chinese to stop the Japanese. Also featured are General Claire Lee Chennault's famous Flying Tigers, the American Volunteer Group who had joined the battle to defend China. This 67-minute black & white 1944 documentary is narrated by writer Anthony Veiller (Walter Houston just does the voice of Abraham Lincoln this time) and Anatole Litvak served as an uncredited co-director. In the next volume, "War Comes to America," the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brings the United States into the war.

The "Why We Fight" series is the supreme example of propaganda put out by the U.S. government during World War II. Capra, a major in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, was commissioned to make a series of short documentaries that would explain the policy of the U.S. government to the troops that were being hastily assembled, trained, and sent overseas to fight. But the "Why We Fight" series proved so effective it was eventually shown in theaters to the American public. In 2000 the "Why We Fight" series was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry and remains a prime source of archival footage for the period.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good video., June 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Battle of China: Assault on the Great Wall [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This video explain why Japan wanted to conquer China and how China united in their war against Japan. And it shows the horrors of the war. I thought it was a very good video.