The Battle of Hong Kong (lost Japanese World War II propaganda film; 1942)
The surviving stills of the film.
Status: Lost
The Battle of Hong Kong (also known by its full name The Battle of Hong Kong; The Day Britain Fell) is a Japanese propaganda film produced by Dai Nippon Film Company (which later became Daiei Film) in 1942, it is the only film produced during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.[1]
The film was produced in a series of films about the Japanese invasions of Southeast Asia and the Northern Pacific similar to films like The Battle of Hawaii and Malaya as National Policy films and was used to spread anti-British sentiment in Hong Kong.[2]
Avaliablity
Presumably, the original film positives were either lost during the war due to most films in Hong Kong being melted down for parts for the Japanese military use or being destroyed during the bombing of Japan.
Currently, only a 36 minute screenplay out of the original 102 minute runtime is kept by the Japanese National Film Archive.[3]
The film's script was also sold at least once online by a Japanese book store specializing in old books.[4]