Shanghai China 1947 Travelogue Film Just Prior to Communist Victory

14 Views

2023/03/19

⁣This amazing 16mm film shows Shanghai, China as it appeared in the immediate post-WWII period, prior to the collapse of the nationalist Chinese government. The film was released in 1947 by Castle. At :20, the waterfront and cityscape are seen in this "city of 10 million". At :30, junks are seeing plying the Yangtze and nearby Suzhou Creek. At 1:30, men are seen moving barges with long poles. At 1:44, Western warships are noticeable in the harbor at Shanghai. On the docks manpower is used to move every conceivable item from oil drums to sacks of grain. At 2:30, traffic is seen in the bustling commercial district and an Army truck rolls by. Western tourists can be seen in the crowd at 2:46 on a bicycle / pedicab. At 2:54 other forms of transport are seen including carts of every description. At 3:20, men are seen making sandals and at 3:40, a man writes a letter on behalf of a client. At 4:00 a thieves market is shown, with money changing hands for all sorts of different items. At 5:00money is exchanged for gold jewelry. At 5:35 traffic chokes the roads. At 5:34, a huge group of Chinese laborers are seen hauling a barge up the Suzhou Creek. More manual labor is seen at 6:30 with huge logs being moved. At 6:34 a movie theater is showing "Tarzan's Secret Treasure" (released 1941) and "Kismet" with Marlene Dietrich (released in 1944). At 6:57, traditional Chinese entertainment and some very exclusive nightclubs are shown. At 7:30, the plight of some of the masses is seen -- sleeping on the street (8:09) and waiting in long lines, and living in squalor, likely as a result of pressures brought on by the civil war. Wounded and refugees from the war are seen at the very end of the movie at 8:30, followed by scenes of its prosperous waterfront once again.