135 Films & TV Shows Set In China During The 1940s
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Caterpillar
๐จ๐ณ China The 1930s The 1940sDuring the Second Sino-Japanese War, in 1940, Lieutenant Kurokawa returns home as a honored and decorated soldier but deprived of his arms and legs lost in battle. All hopes, from the villagers and women to close family members, turn to Shigeko, the Lieutenant's wife. She must honor the Emperor and the country in setting an example for all by fulfilling her duty and taking care of the 'god soldier'. Kurokawa prior to leaving to fight in the war regularly beat and berated his wife for her barrenness and inability to bring him a son. When he returns home as an amputee with no hearing and no speech, his wife dutifully attends to him, even though he shows little appreciation for her dedicated care. His main concerns are getting fed and getting sex. Even in his own degraded condition, he manages to berate his wife. Eventually, though, his own memories infiltrate and he is haunted by his horrible, sadistic deeds, performed while in the duty of the Japanese military.
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Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen
๐ซ๐ท France Shanghai The 1920s The 1910s The 1930s The 1940sSeven years after the apparent death of Chen Zhen, who was shot after discovering who was responsible for his teacher's death (Huo Yuanjia) in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. A mysterious stranger arrives from overseas and befriends a local mafia boss. That man is a disguised Chen Zhen, who intends to infiltrate the mob when they form an alliance with the Japanese. Disguising himself as a caped fighter by night, Chen intends to take out everyone involved as well as get his hands on an assassination list prepared by the Japanese.
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The Way Back
๐ต๐ฑ Poland ๐ท๐บ Russia ๐ฎ๐ณ India ๐จ๐ณ China ๐ฒ๐ณ Mongolia The 1980s The 1940s The 1930sTheir escape was just the beginning. โ At the dawn of WWII, several men escape from a Russian gulagโto take a perilous and uncertain journey to freedom as they cross deserts, mountains and several nations.
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Death and Glory in Changde
๐จ๐ณ China The 1930s The 1940sDirected by Shen Dong and starring Ray Lui, An Yixuan and Yuan Wenkang, Death and Glory in Changde recalls one of the most cruel and controversial battles during China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), Changde Battle, in November 1943.
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Once Upon a Time in Tibet
Tibet The 1930s The 1940sSet during the Second Sino-Japanese War(1937-1945), the US army brings supplies to China by flying over the Himalayas. A love story then ensues between an American pilot and a Tibetan girl who saved his life when his airplane crashed.
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A Jewish Girl in Shanghai
Shanghai The 1940s The 1930sBased upon the popular graphic novel by Wu Lin, this is the first Chinese animated film to portray the Holocaust. The film centers around the warm friendship between Rina, a wide-eyed European Jewish schoolgirl and A-Gen, a Chinese pancake seller, who teach each other about their distant worlds as Shanghai struggles beneath its own cruelly portrayed Japanese occupation.
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John Rabe
๐จ๐ณ China The 1930s The 1940sHistory Needs Extraordinary Heroes โ A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.
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City of Life and Death
๐จ๐ณ China The 1930s The 1940sCity of Life and Death takes place in 1937, during the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Imperial Japanese Army has just captured the then-capital of the Republic of China, Nanjing. What followed was known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, a period of several weeks wherein tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed.
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The Message
๐จ๐ณ China The 1930s The 1940s1942, Nanjing (Nanking). Following a series of assassination attempts on officials of the Japanese-controlled puppet government, the Japanese spy chief gathers a group of suspects in a mansion house for questioning. A tense game of "cat and mouse" ensues as the Chinese code-breaker attempts to send out a crucial message while protecting his/her own identity.
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Cow
Shandong Province The 1930s The 1940sA Chinese peasant is given the responsibility of protecting his village's special dairy cow during a particularly harsh winter in 1940.
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The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
๐จ๐ณ China The 1940s The 3rd Century BCA New Evil Awakens. โ Archaeologist Rick O'Connell travels to China, pitting him against an emperor from the 2,000-year-old Han dynasty who's returned from the dead to pursue a quest for world domination. This time, O'Connell enlists the help of his wife and son to quash the so-called 'Dragon Emperor' and his abuse of supernatural power.
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The Children of Huang Shi
๐จ๐ณ China The 1940s The 1930sWar made them orphans, one man made them legends โ About young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.
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Ip Man
Guangdong Province The 1940s The 1930sThe celebrated Kung Fu master of Bruce Lee. โ A semi-biographical account of Yip Man, the first martial arts master to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun. The film focuses on events surrounding Ip that took place in the city of Foshan between the 1930s to 1940s during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Directed by Wilson Yip, the film stars Donnie Yen in the lead role, and features fight choreography by Sammo Hung.
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The Good, the Bad, the Weird
๐ฐ๐ท South Korea Jilin Province Liaoning Province The 1930s The 1940sA Fistful of Fun! โ The story of three Korean outlaws in 1930s Manchuria and their dealings with the Japanese army and Chinese and Russian bandits. The Good (a Bounty hunter), the Bad (a hitman), and the Weird (a thief) battle the army and the bandits in a race to use a treasure map to uncover the riches of legend.
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Dachimawa Lee
๐ฐ๐ท South Korea Jilin Province New Jersey The 1940sUnder Japanese imperialism, Korean national treasure Golden Buddha is stolen. More important to national security, the statue contains vital information concerning Korean freedom fighters and their whereabouts as well as their true identities. The interim Korean government appoints legendary Korean spy Agent Dachimawa Lee to recover the fabled statue and reveal the dark plot behind the theft.
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Philosophy of a Knife
๐ฏ๐ต Japan ๐จ๐ณ China The 1930s The 1940sThe true history of Japanese Unit 731, from its beginnings in the 1930s to its demise in 1945, and the subsequent trials in Khabarovsk, USSR, of many of the Japanese doctors from Unit 731. The facts are told, and previously unknown evidence is revealed by an eyewitness to these events, former doctor and military translator, Anatoly Protasov.
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Forever Enthralled
Beijing The 1930s The 1940sA biographical account of Mei Lanfang, China's greatest opera star.
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Lust, Caution
Shanghai ๐ญ๐ฐ Hong Kong The 1940s The 1930sDuring World War II a secret agent must seduce, then assassinate an official who works for the Japanese puppet government in Shanghai. Her mission becomes clouded when she finds herself falling in love with the man she is assigned to kill.
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Nanking
๐จ๐ณ China The 1930s The 1940sThe true story of how a few brave souls saved the lives of thousands. โ The story of the rape of Nanking, one of the most tragic events in history. In 1937, the invading Japanese army murdered over 200,000 and raped tens of thousands of Chinese. In the midst of this horror, a small group of Western expatriates banded together to save 250,000. Nanking shows the tremendous impact individuals can make on the course of history.
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Black Belt
๐จ๐ณ China ๐ฏ๐ต Japan The 1930s The 1940sReal Fight, Real Karate, Real Japan. โ Set in 1932, amid the rise of militarism after the establishment of the Manchukuo colony in Northeast China, the story centers on a trio of karateka. Studying under their aging master in a small dojo in the woods of central Kyushu, Choei, Taikan and Giryu face a company of kempeitai military police come to requisition their dojo for use as a military base.
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The Go Master
๐จ๐ณ China The 1930s The 1940sThe Go Master is a 2006 biopic by director Tian Zhuangzhuang of renowned twentieth century Go master Wu Qingyuan, better known by his adopted name of Go Seigen. The film, which premiered at the 44th New York Film Festival, focuses on the life of this extraordinary player from his meteoric rise as a child prodigy to fame and fortune as a revolutionary strategic thinker, as well as the tumultuous global conflicts between his homeland and his adopted nation. The film also features a scene involving the Atomic bomb go game.
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The White Countess
Shanghai The 1930s The 1940sIin 1930s Shanghai, 'The White Countess' is both Sofiaโa fallen member of the Russian aristocracyโand a nightclub created by a blind American diplomat, who asks Sofia to be the centerpiece of the world he wants to create.
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Everlasting Regret
Shanghai The 1970s The 1960s The 1950s The 1940sa film adaptation of Wang Anyi's popular and influential novel Changhen Ge.A person's life is destined to be shorter than that of a city. Having spent her whole life in Shanghai, Qiyao has her moments of prosperity and her fair share of loneliness. She finally fades and disappears but Shanghai remains a metropolitan city. Shanghai in the 1930s is glamorous and seductive. A pretty young girl from an ordinary family, Qiyao is lucky enough to win the 2nd runner-up of the "Miss Shanghai" contest. Mr. Cheng, her admirer as well as a photographer who assists her to her success, knows the girl is going to live an extraordinary life. It turns out she is going to witness the decades of changes to her city
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On the Mountain of Tai Hang
๐จ๐ณ China The 1930s The 1940sOn the Mountain of Tai Hang tells the story of the Sino-Japanese war and the commander-in-chief, Zhu De, leading the main force of the Eighth Route Army to the battlefront against the Japanese invaders. Presented are several important campaigns, from September 1937 to May 1940, including the Pingxingguan victory, the surprise attack on Yangmingbao, Xinkou campaign and Huangtuling campaign, where Abuguixiu, lieutenant general of the Japanese army, was shot down. The film also reflects the close relationship between the Eighth Route Army and the people.
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Kung Fu Hustle
Shanghai The 1940s The 1930sSo many gangsters...so little time. โ Set in Canton, China in the 1940s, the story revolves in a town ruled by the Axe Gang, Sing who desperately wants to become a member. He stumbles into a slum ruled by eccentric landlords who turns out to be the greatest kung-fu masters in disguise. Sing's actions eventually cause the Axe Gang and the slumlords to engage in an explosive kung-fu battle. Only one side will win and only one hero will emerge as the greatest kung-fu master of all.
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