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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Dear Yiman Wang,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I was hoping that someone could you refer you to a proper
critique of this film, but here's a few points.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>It was produced by a British TV company, Carlton, and was
a follow-on from successful series called 'Britain at War in Colour</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><A
href="http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/34028">http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/34028</A> and</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><A
href="http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/32015">http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/32015</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>There's a commercially available DVD of the film that
mentions colour restoration.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>On the film and on the DVD I could se no credits for
director, script-writer, script-editor or translator, but in the world of
British TV documentaries, the 'producer' is the author, David
Batty.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Considering the constraints, which include assuming the
audience have no prior knowledge of any Japanese history and only using
available colour footage, the film turns out to be a moving testimony to the
tragedy of the war and the tragedy of military adventurism. I can't
imagine it was ever intended to be shown in Japan. I mean: would it be the
same film if all the Japanese witnesses suddenly spoke fluently and the
westerners all had twee exotic accents ?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The most glaring gaps to my mind were the total absence of
Korea, and of Russia, apart from a shot of Stalin at Potsdam. The
emperor's speech claiming thousands of years without defeat is left
unchallenged, despite Japan having received major pastings from the Soviet Union
in the thirties, that were partly responsible for turning Japan south. The
catastrophic losses in Manchuria in the week preceding the bombings of Horoshima
and Nagasaki are also an unevent. Is there no Soviet colour footage of the
period, or didn't they look for it? I see that Batty did a book of the
film, whose index is on Amazon, and there are a number of references there to
Russia, so it could be looked into.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Because 'Japan' became the home islands as a result of
Potsdam, it gives a posteriori historians the means to ignore the effect of war,
colonialism and repatriation on the greater Japan, whereas liberated
prisoners-of-war were filmed in colour.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>But you may be able to correct me, Yiman, at least on
reception. Where are you and where did you see the film ?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Roger</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>----- Original Message ----- </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>From: "YW" <</FONT><A
href="mailto:hahumiaomiao@aim.com"><FONT
face=Arial>hahumiaomiao@aim.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>To: <</FONT><A
href="mailto:KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu"><FONT
face=Arial>KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</FONT></A><FONT
face=Arial>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2009 4:04 AM</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Subject: question re. Japan's war in
color</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><BR></FONT></DIV><FONT face=Arial>> Dear all,<BR>>
<BR>> I wonder if people here can help me with the documentary, Japan's War
in <BR>> Color. It's built on WWII footages shot in color. Does
anybody know <BR>> the kind of color technique(s) being used, who shot the
footages, why <BR>> they were shot in color, and finally, why they have
remained unseen for <BR>> so long, and how they were discovered. And
have the Japanese filmmakers <BR>> done anything with these footages?<BR>>
<BR>> Any comments and leads will be deeply appreciated.<BR>> <BR>>
Thank you!<BR>> <BR>> Yiman Wang</FONT></BODY></HTML>