[KineJapan] Effects of the Atomic Bomb cameraman bio

[Markus Nornes]

If you are interested in the genbaku eiga, or war film in general, there's
a fascinating biography that's just been published in Ireland by journalist
Joseph McCabe.

*Rebels to Reels* is a biography of combat cameraman Dan McGovern. He led a
pretty extraordinary life. Grew up in Ireland, where his father was a cop
in the Royal Irish Constabulary—the wrong side, so after the Irish War of
Independence they left for America.

One of his first assignments as a cameraman was the photo unit shooting FDR
around the start of WWII, and then he trained as a combat cameraman in
Hollywood. He ended up shooting air raids over Germany, becoming one of the
main cameramen for William Wyler's *Memphis Belle*. After VE Day, he was
sent to the Pacific Theater where he ended up on the US Strategic Bombing
Survey after surrender. There, he produced the famous *Effects of the
Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. *

The Japanese filmmakers, like Iwasaki Akira, understandably thought the
worst of McGovern because of the film's suppression. Actually, he was
responsible for keeping the production going, partially funding it, paving
the way for a national release in the US and, when the film was classified,
secretly struck two 16mm copies and hid them...just in case. In the end, 9
big boxes of original production materials, including the negatives,
disappeared. Were it not for several of his interventions, we would have no
moving images of the aftermath of the atomic bombings—no exaggeration.

I've written about McGovern and his relationship to the Japanese crew in
*Japanese** Documentary Film* (and the essay "The Body at the Center
<http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nornes/essays_documentary.html>"). What you
get in *Rebels to Reels* is lots of new information on the production and
suppression of the film, and embedded in the story of McGovern's life.
There is also a lot of fascinating, granular history about how the combat
cameramen worked.

It's an important book for filling out the story of *Effects of the Atomic
Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki* and the color footage shot by McGovern and
Harry Mimura.

I met McGovern back when I was writing about the genbaku eiga in 1991. He
was way taller than me and had a steely handshake. He graciously shared his
memories about his time in Japan, as well as documents (which are in
this online
archive <https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cjfs/production-materials.html> I
created for the film). Now that I read this book, I realize I should have
spent much more time with him, and ask about everything else he did besides
*Effects.*

Here is a website for the book, which has samples of McGovern's film work:
https://www.rebelstoreels.com

And the book is available on Amazon.

Markus

---

*Markus Nornes*
*Professor of Asian Cinema*
*Interim Chair, Dept. of Asian Languages and Culture*

Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages and
Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design




*Homepage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nornes/
<http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nornes/>*
*Department of Film, Television and Media*
*6348 North Quad*
*105 S. State Street**Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285*
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