December 7th: The Movie is a 1943 propaganda film produced by the U.S. Navy about the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor, showing life before, during, and after the 7 December 1941 attack. This 32-minute version is the censored version of the film, pared down from the original 82 minutes, as the original “asked some embarrassing questions . . . . [and] the film had a lot of time devoted to the culture of the 160,000 Japanese-Americans in Hawaii and their response to the attack.” This censored version opens with a shot of a destroyed bomber on an air field—the bomber is missing its back half. The film shows the memo from Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War, requesting the creation of a motion picture film about Pearl Harbor before, during, and after the Japanese attack. Shots of Oahu portray the island on Sunday morning, December 7, as the film shows lush mountainsides, sandy beaches, and a good view of a sleeping Honolulu (01:40). Trucks drive into Hickam Field (02:08), and planes sit out in the open. Across from the field is Pearl Harbor (02:24). A cruiser sails in the harbor. Men fish off docks. Sailors attend an outdoor mass celebrating the first Sunday of Advent (03:00). A private in a radar station picks up planes on the radar and reports it to his commander (04:12). Men work in a hanger, and one man appears to be doing maintenance on a bomber (05:00). Japanese squadrons approach Pearl Harbor from multiple directions (05:32), and the planes fly over Oahu beach (06:49). They drop bombs, hitting their targets. Planes on an airfield are hit and shown on fire or in ruin (07:33). U.S. servicemen leave the beach mass and go to man their battle stations. Men climb into planes while others run into a burning hanger to salvage the aircraft inside. Bombs hit the USS Arizona and footage shows inside the ship as a bomb explodes and kills a sailor. Aboard the USS California (10:37), men man anti-aircraft guns and fire on the Japanese planes. U.S. naval ships are shown burning in the harbor, and thick smoke billows over the water (12:04). A Japanese man at the Consulate-General refuses to speak with a reporter about the attacks (12:42). Soldiers run for cover during the second phase of the attack. Naval guns fire on the Japanese planes. A sailor fires a machine gun at several planes (14:03). Footage shows ships trying to leave the harbor and escape more damage while others are crippled and burn. The attack ends, and the film shows the remains of Japanese planes that were either shot down or crashed as the result of a kamikaze attack (15:40). Ships in Pearl Harbor continue to burn, and smoke fills the harbor. Hickam Airfield is littered with destroyed planes. Men tend to and evacuate the wounded (17:27). The film then shows photographs of a number of the enlisted men and officers killed in the attack, which is then followed by footage of their respective parents and, in one case, the man’s wife and baby. Some of the men featured in this part of the film are (forgive any spelling errors) Robert R. Kelly, Theodore S. Zable of Iowa, Moses A. Allen of North Carolina, and Antonio Estafoya of New Mexico. Servicemen stand during a funeral service for the slain soldiers (20:31). Other Navy men place leis at the grave markers of their fallen brothers on a beach. Footage shows the aftermath of the attacks (23:30): the USS Arizona is sunk; the USS Utah and Oklahoma are capsized; the USS California sits idle with heavy damage. Men march into Pearl Harbor for salvage operations (24:13). Water is pumped out of the flooded compartments of a ship. Divers go underwater to repair a ship’s hull. The USS California is towed to drydock for repairs (25:25), as are the Nevada and West Virginia. Several battleships leave Pearl Harbor and head out to sea (26:10). Footage shows the ships firing their guns. The USS Oglala, a U.S. Navy minelayer, sails out to sea (26:30); the film shows the ship’s damage before it is repaired. Governor Joseph Poindexter signs a proclamation declaring martial law (28:44). Men and machines dig trenches for bomb shelters. School children practice an air raid drill (29:33). They are shown crouching in a narrow trench, and others are shown putting on gas masks. Japanese Americans remove business signs with Japanese writing. Two children dig in the sand on a beach with barbed wire just behind them. Oahu goes dark as the blackout takes effect (31:44), concluding the film.

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com