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 5:00 money 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.

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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 and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com