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The 400 Million (1939)

The 400 Million (1939)

Documentary
Release Date: 1939, March 7
Directors: Joris Ivens, John Fernhout
Countries: United States of America
Cast: Fredric March, Alfred Ryder, Robert Q. Lewis, Morris Carnovsky, Adelaide Bean, Lai Sek, Madame Chiang

Overview:

Joris Ivens’s wartime documentary of China’s resistance to the Japanese invasion, cross-cutting civilian exodus and bombing with the Nationalist state’s mobilization—schools, industry, dispersed war production, foreign relief—and guerrilla fighting. Framing an ancient nation of “400 million,” it contrasts tradition with modernization and closes on the unresolved question of victory.

Keywords:

japanese invasion of china