The events that occurred at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 will be forever remembered as some of the darkest in American history. In modern time, it has been the only instance where American soil was jeopardized by an outside invader. As Roosevelt said, it is a day that will live in infamy. From "Tora, Tora, Tora" to Jerry Bruckheimer´s recent "Pearl Harbor," the events of this day has been retold through the cameras of Hollywood. These glitzy productions give part of the story, but they are far from complete and greatly void of detail. Greg Toland and John Ford´s 1943 documentary "December 7th" is the earliest telling of the attack on Pearl Harbor and one of the most informative.
When "December 7th" was released in 1943, the United States Government was very quick to censor the film and chopped fifty minutes of the eighty-two minute feature from the beginning and end of the picture. The remaining thirty-two minutes focused solely on the attack of Pearl Harbor and the aftermath. Gone was the a large portion of Ford and Toland´s film that the Government felt would reduce American morale towards the wartime effort. The majority of this footage portrayed hundreds of thousands of Japanese-Americans living loyally in Hawaii. It showed how a small number of these were loyal to Japan and fed information that led to Pearl Harbor´s attack. Other footage showed the rejection of Japan as their homeland by many other Japanese-Americans who were loyal to the United States.
Touted as a John Ford film, "December 7th" owes much of its existence and content to director Greg Toland. "December 7th" has Uncle Sam (Walter Huston) vacationing in Hawaii on December 6th, hours before the attack. He receives a visit from his conscience, Mr. C (Harry Davenport). Mr. C argues with Uncle Sam about the number of Japanese who are undermining the American Government and military strength of Pearl Harbor and helping prepare for a sneak attack that could leave the Pacific Fleet nearly defenseless. Uncle Sam tells his conscience that this is all hogwash and the Japanese are very loyal and this Pacific paradise has nothing to fear from the land of the rising sun. The two argue and provide an overview of Hawaii in the process. Uncle Sam does not buy into these outrageous thoughts and falls asleep. Of course, the next morning, Japanese aircraft viciously strikes Pearl Harbor.
The attack footage shown in "December 7th" is composed mainly from recreations. American Dauntless bombers are used in place of Japanese Zero and Kate aircraft. The majority of the warship destruction scenes are visibly models recreated and destroyed for the film. Typical 1940 cinematic deaths are contained in abundance and even though this film is a documentary, there are times when it comes across as an old-time war film. This was done because at the time this film was shot, the U.S. Government was still retaining the actual combat footage as classified materials. Actual footage from the attack is presented on the DVD in the form of newsreels.
In 1995, the United States Government removed the ban on the original version of "December 7th" and allowed the film to be played for the first time in its entirety. The early part of the film that showed how loyal the vast majority of the American-Japanese citizens were and how others very easily gathered information against America was reinserted. Additional footage was added to the tail-end that had "ghosts" of Pearl Harbor victims introducing themselves and talking to the audience about their demise and value to the American war effort.
Though it appears dated, "December 7th" is far more powerful than any of the more recent Hollywood films. Most of the actual film was fabricated, but it has a way of feeling much more authentic and conveys how the paradise and innocence of the island were lost on the attack and shows how truly helpless many were by the surprise raid. Even though the audience is brought down by the attack and carnage brought upon by the Japanese, it also does a much better job of bringing the audience back around. Unlike the other films, "December 7th" tells of how a large number of the ships were brought back to service and refitted to exact revenge upon the Japanese. The deceit of the Japanese Empire is much more apparent and the sense that they had simply awaken a sleeping giant and not had a victorious attack is shown to be as plain as day by the recovery from the attack.
Video :
The sixtieth birthday of much of this footage is quickly approaching. The main feature and especially the wealth of supplements contained are quite old and it does not appear as if they were preserved with much care. There are scratches, dirt, a few tears and some other glaring reminders of just how old this film is. Sadly, the clarity of the DVD format helps accentuate all of them for the viewer to plainly see. However, the digital transfer is nicely done. Black and white films are more susceptible to pixelation problems and other digital artifacts caused by compression. "December 7th" has a very clean transfer that shows a little more grain at times than necessary, but for most of the film, the picture is very sharp with solid blacks and very bright whites. When compared to the supplemental materials, the restoration of the main feature is of higher quality. This is not the best black and white transfer I have seen, but it is far from being the worst or could even be considered sub-par.
Audio :
The audio for "December 7th" is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. The sound is extremely clear and very intelligible. Once or twice in the picture, the audio dropped ever so slightly and with lower volume levels it would have been difficult to comprehend what was being said on-screen. As mentioned, this occurred only once or twice in the entire three hour running time of the complete collection. The running commentary was recorded on a lower-than-normal level and I found myself turning up the volume quite a bit to get the commentary at a comfortable listening level. The Japanese language segments are nicely subtitled and the audio tracks have survived the years more successfully than the video. There is some static here and there, but everything remains synced and even the very old sound effects possess a hint of a rumble. For materials this old, the audio quality is quite acceptable.
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