Shina no Yoru / China night 1940 (eng sub)

AKA 支那の夜 AKA 支那之夜 Directed by Osamu Fushimizu (伏水修) Written by Hideo Oguni (小国英雄) Starring: Kazuo Hasegawa (長谷川 一夫), Shirley Yamaguchi (山口 淑子, Yoshiko Yamaguchi), Tomiko Hattori (服部富子), Kamatari Fujiwara (藤原 釜足) Synopsis: Infamous National Policy Film (国策映画), promoting Japan’s colonial interests. Fushimizu Osamu’s immensely successful China Nights works the rich metaphorical possibilities afforded by the commonplace image of China as a disreputable “woman“ in need of redemption. As early as 1911, popular historian Yamaji Aizan had characterized the nation as “not a powerless country like a single woman, but an infelicitous one like a prostitute.“ Although it’s discretely muted, the film’s first