435 Films & TV Shows Set In Asia During The 1940s
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Three Girls
Shanghai The 1940s The 1930sThis dramatic movie is about three women in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, 1941, and one could call it very woman-centric (which isn't a bad thing). They "breathe the same air", but are in different walks of life: Jinzhu is a factory worker. She gets raped by Japanese soldiers in the very first seconds of the film, and much of the rest deals with the social consequences this has for her.
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Women in the Night
Shanghai The 1940sUnspeakable atrocities! — During WW2 six allied nations women at Shanghai University are arrested by the Germans accused of killing a German officer and forced to entertain the Japanese.
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The Lights of Ten Thousand Homes
Shanghai The 1940sThis tale of familial warfare and sacrifice takes place in hard-pressed Shanghai at the end of the 1940s. Hu Zhiqing can barely support his wife and children, and his situation is worsened by the unexpected arrival of his mother, brother and sister-in-law. When he is fired by his unscrupulous boss, the whole family becomes embroiled in one emotional/economic struggle after another.
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Teri Yaad
🇵🇰 Pakistan The 1940sYour Memory — The year 1947 saw the independence of Pakistan. During this time, the Indian film industry was segregated and the only film production centre left in Pakistan was at Lahore. With the industry reeling in its infancy, it was hard to work on film productions that had been initiated before the independence as many of the working filmmakers and actors had left for or stayed back in India.
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Far Away Love
Hubei Province Shanghai The 1930s The 1940sA college professor gives a village girl a make-over.
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The Beginning or the End
Hiroshima Prefecture The 1940sThe research, development, and deployment of the first atomic bomb, as well as the bombing of Hiroshima, are detailed in this docudrama.
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The Spring River Flows East
Shanghai The 1930s The 1940s1930's China. The village of a poor family is taken over by the occupying Japanese army. One son, Zhongliang, leaves his wife and young son to join a medic group for the Chinese Army. The other son, Zhangmin goes into hiding to protect his family. The focus shifts back and forth from the brothers' parents and Zhongliang's wife and son to Zhongliang's newfound life of luxury in a town not too far away. The plight of Zhongliang's mother, his wife, Sufan and her son, Kongeson is contrasted with Zhongliang's rise in a flourishing company.
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Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon
Shanghai The 1930s The 1940sA college girl and a musician go to the front of the anti-Japanese war and fall in love.
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No Regrets for Our Youth
Tokyo Prefecture Kyoto Prefecture The 1940s The 1930sYukie, the well-bred daughter of a university professor, is shocked when her father is relieved of his post for his political teachings during a purge of anti-militarism in pre-war Kyoto. Years go by as she is courted by two of her father's former students; one a fiery leftist, the other more moderate and equable.
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Dharti Ke Lal
🇮🇳 India The 1940sBased on plays by Bhattacharya and the story Annadata by Krishan Chander
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Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani
🇨🇳 China The 1930s The 1940sDuring the Japanese invasion of China, a young Indian doctor joins the Chinese resistance, meets and courts a Chinese girl, cures a virulent plague, and is captured by a Japanese platoon...
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They Were Expendable
🇵🇭 Philippines The 1940sA Tribute to Those Who Did So Much... With So Little! — Shortly after Pearl Harbor, a squadron of PT-boat crews in the Philippines must battle the Navy brass between skirmishes with the Japanese. The title says it all about the Navy's attitude towards the PT-boats and their crews.
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Objective, Burma!
🇲🇲 Myanmar The 1940sAn American platoon parachutes into Burma to take out a strategic Japanese outpost — A group of men parachute into Japanese-occupied Burma with a dangerous and important mission: to locate and blow up a radar station. They accomplish this well enough, but when they try to rendezvous at an old air-strip to be taken back to their base, they find Japanese waiting for them, and they must make a long, difficult walk back through enemy-occupied jungle.
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Blood on the Sun
🇯🇵 Japan The 1940sHaving a wonderful time In Tokyo! — Nick Condon, an American journalist in 1945 Tokyo, publishes the Japanese master plan for world domination. Reaction from the understandably upset Japanese provides the action, but this is overshadowed by the propaganda of the time.
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China Sky
🇨🇳 China The 1930s The 1940sIn a hill city of war-torn China, the American mission hospital is run by Dr. Gray Thompson and Dr. Sara Durand, who secretly loves him. Then Gray comes back from the USA with new equipment ...and new wife Louise, who is jealous of Sara, shows herself a coward in the first Japanese air raid, and wants to take Gray back to the States. Others have similar troubles; and Japanese prisoner Colonel Yasuda manipulates them for his own ends.
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God Is My Co-Pilot
Yunnan Province The 1930s The 1940sRobert L. Scott has dreamed his whole life of being a fighter pilot, but when war comes he finds himself flying transport planes over The Hump into China. In China, he persuades General Chennault to let him fly with the famed Flying Tigers, the heroic band of airmen who'd been fighting the Japanese long before Pearl Harbor. Scott gets his chance to fight, ultimately engaging in combat with the deadly Japanese pilot known as Tokyo Joe.
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The Turning Point
🇷🇺 Russia The 1940sA Soviet 1945 film directed by Fridrikh Ermler based on a screenplay by Boris Chirskov. The film was one of the Cannes top prize winners of 1946.
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China's Little Devils
🇨🇳 China The 1930s The 1940sOut of the raging heart of China storms the first story of these reckless young guerillas... — In this propaganda film, a courageous group of Chinese children risk their lives to assist downed American pilots escape the ruthless Japanese oppressors.
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Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
California Tokyo Prefecture The 1940sHeart-Warming Romance . . . Ripped from the Heart! — In the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission which will take the war to the Japanese homeland.
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The Purple Heart
Tokyo Prefecture The 1940sAn EPIC SAGE of RAW COURAGE! — This is the story of the crew of a downed bomber, captured after a run over Tokyo, early in the war. Relates the hardships the men endure while in captivity, and their final humiliation: being tried and convicted as war criminals.
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Why We Fight: The Battle of China
🇨🇳 China The 1930s The 1940sThe sixth film illustrates Japan's occupation of China, including Madame Chiang Kai-Shek's stirring address before congress, the rape of Naking, the great 2,000 mile migration, and Claire Chennault's Flying Tigers.
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Days of Glory
🇷🇺 Russia The 1940sA heroic guerilla group fights back against impossible odds during the 1941 Nazi invasion of Russia.
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Dragon Seed
🇨🇳 China The 1930s The 1940sM-G-M's immortal production of the great novel — The lives of a small Chinese village are turned Upside down when the Japanese invade it. And heroic young Chinese woman leads her fellow villagers in an uprising against Japanese Invaders.
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The Eve of St. Mark
🇵🇭 Philippines The 1940sQuizz West is conscripted into the United States Army in late 1940. Prior to being shipped out first to San Francisco, then the Philippines, Quizz and his hometown girlfriend Janet discuss their future plans.
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Air Force
Florida Hawaii 🇵🇭 Philippines The 1940sGIANTS OF THE SKY...blazing a trail to victory! — The crew of an Air Force bomber arrives in Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the Japanese attack and is sent on to Manila to help with the defense of the Philippines.
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