| The Purple Heart | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Lewis Milestone |
| Written by | Jerome Cady |
| Based on | story byDarryl F. Zanuck (as Melville Crossman) |
| Produced by | Darryl F. Zanuck |
| Starring | Dana Andrews Richard Conte Farley Granger Kevin O'Shea Don "Red" Barry Sam Levene Trudy Marshall |
| Cinematography | Arthur C. Miller |
| Edited by | Douglas Biggs |
| Music by | Alfred Newman |
| Color process | Black and white |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $800,000[2] |
| Box office | $1,500,000[3] |
The Purple Heart is a 1944 Americanwar film, produced byDarryl F. Zanuck, directed byLewis Milestone, and starringDana Andrews,Richard Conte,Don "Red" Barry,Sam Levene andTrudy Marshall. Eighteen-year-oldFarley Granger had a supporting role.
The film is a dramatization of the "show trial" of a number of US airmen by theJapanese government duringWorld War II. It is loosely based on the trial of eight US airmen who took part in the April 18, 1942,Doolittle Raid on Japan. Three of the eight were subsequently executed and one later died as aPOW.[4] This film was the first to deal directly with the Japanese treatment of POWs and ran into opposition from theUS War Department, which was afraid that such films would provoke reprisals from the Japanese government.[5]
In April 1942, after a raid on Japan, eightAmerican aircrew made up of the crews from twoNorth American B-25 Mitchellbombers, are captured. Capt. Harvey Ross (Dana Andrews), becomes the leader of the captives. Initially, the men are picked up by a local government official who is aChinese collaborator in aWang Jingwei controlled section of China. The collaborator delivers the Americans to theImperial Japanese Army to be put on trial at theShanghai Police Headquarters. Although international observers and correspondents are allowed to witness the trial, the commanding officer, General Mitsubi (Richard Loo) refuses to allow Karl Kappel (Torben Meyer), the Swiss Consul to contact Washington.
At the start of the trial, Lt. Greenbaum (Sam Levene), an attorney in civilian life (CCNY Law 1939), declares the trial is illegal, as the men are in the military service of their country. When the senior officer Captain Ross refuses to answer the demands of the sly General Mitsubi to reveal the location of their aircraft carrier, the general decides to break the men. The airmen endure harsh interrogation and torture from the Japanese guards with Sgt. Jan Skvoznik (Kevin O'Shea) left in a catatonic state with a permanent head twitch. In court, the men see the pitiful state of Skvoznik. Lts. Canelli (Richard Conte) and Vincent (Don "Red" Barry) rush the Japanese general, quickly felled by rifle butts and are returned to their cell. Canelli, an artist, suffers a broken right hand and arm. Vincent ends up in a catatonic state much like Skvoznik. Sgt. Clinton (Farley Granger) returns seemingly unharmed, but the Japanese have ruptured his vocal cords, and he is unable to speak. The Japanese have a listening device in the cell when Greenbaum (Sam Levene) repeats what the speechless Clinton writes. If anything happens to Lt. Bayforth (Charles Russell), he will tell all. After being tortured, Bayforth returns with his hands and arms useless, covered in black rubber gloves.
In the face of his captives' unshakable resolve and the realization that the Japanese are doomed to destruction, the sadistic General Mitsubi ultimately chooses to shoot himself. Thesystematic torture and abuse the airmen endured while in captivity, and the final injustice of being tried, convicted and executed aswar criminals is unveiled to the world.
Principal photography forThe Purple Heart began on October 11, 1943 and continued to mid-January 1944.[6] Zanuck and a team of writers endeavoured to ensure that the story was based on documentation and unofficial collaboration of the torture suffered by the prisoners, and "... should be almost documentary in its honesty ..."[7] TheUnited States Office of War Information (OWI) reviewed the script and was able to suggest some changes to strengthen the role of the Chinese civilians who had helped the Doolittle Raiders.[8]
The Purple Heart was a work ofwartime propaganda that had astereotypical portrayal of the Japanese (usually by actors of non-Japanese origin) as sadistic tyrants trying to wrest the secret of theiraircraft carrier's location during torture sessions.[9] The 16 air crews did arrive over Japan from theUSSHornet (CV-8). President Franklin D. Roosevelt said the crews came fromShangri-La, a fictional place described in the 1933 novelLost Horizon by British author James Hilton. TheUSSShangri-La (CV-38) was commissioned in 1944.
The Purple Heart was based on the real-life story of eight Doolittle Raiders who were captured from two different crews: Lieutenants Dean E. Hallmark, Robert J. Meder, Chase Nielsen, William G. Farrow, Robert L. Hite and George Barr, and Corporals Harold A. Spatz and Jacob DeShazer. Three Doolittle Raiders (Farrow, Hallmark and Spatz) were executed by the Imperial Japanese Army, while Meder died of disease in prison.[10] In September 1945, after the Japanese surrender, the four survivors of the trial were repatriated back to the U.S. Of the four,Chase Nielsen would remain in the service as a career officer, eventually retiring from theU.S. Air Force. Robert Hite would pursue a civilian career while remaining as an officer in theU.S. Air Force Reserve, to include a subsequent 4-year recall to active duty in a flying status. Due to his injuries sustained in captivity, Joseph Barr would be medically retired as an Army Air Forces captain and become a Department of the Army civilian while Doolittle RaiderJacob DeShazer would later return to Japan to be a Christian minister.[11]
The Purple Heart concludes with a speech where Dana Andrews as Capt. Harvey Ross declares that he had understood the Japanese less than he had thought, and that they did not know Americans if they thought this would frighten them.[4][Note 1]
At the time of its release, the war in the Pacific was still raging and there was little concern for such excesses. TheDecember 7, 1941, Japanese attack onPearl Harbor was still fresh in the minds of the American public. In later years, many of the principal players, including Dana Andrews, came to express regret over the more distasteful aspects of the film.
Released during the war,The Purple Heart inspired theatre patrons to purchase thousands of dollars of War Bonds, and opened to good reviews. The review inVariety reflected the times; "... an intensely moving piece, spellbinding, though gory at times, gripping and suspenseful for the most part."[13]Bosley Crowther, the film reviewer ofThe New York Times, cautiously endorsed the film's patriotic message. "... an overpowering testimonial it is, too—a splendid tribute to the bravery of young men who have maintained their honor and dignity despite the brutal tortures of the Japanese; and a shocking and debasing indictment of the methods which our enemies have used. Americans cannot help but view this picture with a sense of burning outrage—and hearts full of pride and admiration for our men who have so finely fought and died."[12]Harrison's Reports wrote, "A powerful drama, it grips one throughout."[14] David Lardner ofThe New Yorker called "impressive" the "sheer imagination called for" to make a film about an event that happened in a country at a time when it could not be filmed on location. He also praised the performances of the leads as "convincing". However, he identified a drawback in that the film's events were overly "squeezed into too small a confinement of space and time" in order to serve dramatic purposes.[15]