Know Your Enemy: Japan is an American propaganda film directed by Frank Capra, commissioned by the U.S. War Department. Completion was delayed by disputes between the Hollywood producers and Washington. The original intention of the film was to prepare U.S. soldiers for war before deployment in the Pacific, though ultimately it never realized this purpose due to the war’s abrupt end soon after its completion.
The film’s first public screening was...
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Know Your Enemy: Japan is an American propaganda film directed by Frank Capra, commissioned by the U.S. War Department. Completion was delayed by disputes between the Hollywood producers and Washington. The original intention of the film was to prepare U.S. soldiers for war before deployment in the Pacific, though ultimately it never realized this purpose due to the war’s abrupt end soon after its completion.
The film’s first public screening was in 1977 as part of a PBS special.
When the U.S. entered World War II, Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall made an official request of director Frank Capra for the production of a series of documentary films to be released to the general public and to be used for the orientation of American soldiers before and during deployment. Commissioned as a major and placed in charge of the 834th Photo Signal Detachment, Capra produced the film series “Why We Fight,” as well as other films, including Two Down and One to Go and Know Your Enemy: Japan. ...
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