December 7th (Short Version)

Year Published: 1940

Creator: National Archives and Records Administration

Format: 16mm/video file

Description: National Archives and Records Administration - ARC Identifier 40099 / Local Identifier 226.1 - December 7th (Short Version) - Joint Chiefs of Staff. Office of Strategic Services. Field Photographic Branch. (01/04/1943 - 10/01/1945). Produced by John Ford, Directed by Greg Toland. Summary: Shows, mostly by dramatization, life in Hawaii before, during, and after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Reel 1 explains the business structure of the island. Shows sugar cane and pineapple cultivation. Reel 2 shows Japanese working in the sugar cane fields, operating businesses, and attending their national schools and churches. A Shinto priest explains that Hirohito is God. Reel 4 shows Japanese sending information to Japan by short wave radio and diplomatic pouch. Includes shots of Hawaiian scenery, hula dancing, and surfboard riding. Reel 3, Japanese observers relay intelligence to their consul in Honolulu who maintains contact with Tokyo and Berlin. Reel 5, the attack on island installations commences. Reel 6, the battleships Oklahoma, California, Pennsylvania, and Nevada are bombed. Reel 7, the attack abates, the wounded are carried to ambulances, and funeral services are held at various sites. Reel 8, the California, Nevada, and West Virginia are salvaged. The Oahu civil defense committee sets up barbed wire, sandbags, tunnels, and air raid shelters. Children are issued gas masks. Reel 9, disloyal Japanese are taken into custody and a blackout engulfs the islands.