HOME MOVIES: 1950 U.S. SERVICEMAN'S 16mm

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1950

Format: 16mm

Description: Shot in 1950 by an unknown U.S. serviceman, this 16mm home movie shows Occupied Japan and briefly Hong Kong. It provides a striking time capsule of post-war life in Japan, a nation which was slowly rebuilding after defeat. It starts in summer with footage of a fire at the port of Yokohama. It also contains footage of a military base, the launching a private motorboat "The Joker", built for one of the servicemen , and the launch of the fishing vessel "Krill" (briefly seen in another film from the same group). It also contains some cabaret scenes related to R&R -- cancan dancing and stage performances. 0:10 Big fire at an open-air storage area 0:24 Bringing a firehose 1:17 A fire engine arrives 2:21 The area after the fire 3:17 A couple of US Army Jeeps fording a stream 4:00 Clearing a landslide 4:20 Mountainous forest 5:04 A group of children and villagers, looking at the strangers (the cameraman) 5:58 The jovial elder green-bespectacled US serviceman, seen in the previous 6:45 A building with a sign Kameyama, probably a rural hotel or an auberge (ryokan or minshuku) 6:54 Another sign Kameyama News 7:03 Electric Lighting Misuzawa Co. Ltd. People in the street. Possibly Oshuu city but might also be Hong Kong. 7:20 Man, making toy temple guardian toys. 8:05 Elderly man, holding a toddler in his arms. 8:28 A shakuhachi flute player busking 8:48 A teenage girl and her mother picking and sorting flowers for making flower decorations and arrangements for bars, hotels etc – it was a typical low-paid job for young women to take at the time. 9:15 Worker on a step-wheel pump in a ricefield 9:30 our green-bespectacled hero, followed by his friend, who trips over the water pipe and almost falls 10:00 Peasants with banners and ceremonial festival shrines walking past a building 10:00 The Golfer, looking younger, with a neatly-dressed Japanese man posing next to a truck. Lots of people gawking at them from behind. 10:49 Two trucks full of Japanese workers in re-purposed Imperial Japanese Army uniforms 11:04 Colonial mansion-styled building int he background 11:19 Curious children and passerby gawking 11:30 two US Servicemen 12:38 Women and men in peasant straw hats and kerchiefs tied over the mouth and nose, to protect from the dusty soil, clearing debris. 14:06 A Japanese MP guard in uniform 14:21 Factory ruins 14:32 American and Japanese servicemen on a motorboat, named "The Joker", resting upon a flatbed railcar. A Caucasian woman looks up at them. 15:16 Officers' barracks 16:24 A very non-Japanese looking street with a parked car 18:10 Underexposed footage 18:26 The motorboat 21:41 Rolling the completed motorboat upon the railcar towards the sea 29:45 Hoisting the boat with a crane to lower it into the water 30:52 Together with the Japanese construction crew 33:00 The boat's in the water 33:33 Circus juggling and acrobat 36:00 Clown, performing magic tricks 36:15 A lone cabaret dancer in a fur-lined sequin two-piece dress 37:05 French cancan dancers 38:00 Comical dancing number 39:00 more types of dancing 40:14 Magic tricks and a lottery game 40:50 Windswept highland landscape peppered with boulders 41:50 City panorama 42:56 Rose Hotel at Tsim Shar Tsui, Hong Kong again  43:05 Far East Motors - Storage 43:18 No longer existing church on the no longer existing hill... 44:29 American with green glasses, wearing a pith helmet and showing his chest 44:33 Elderly officer comes out of the house. 44:52 Meeting their commanding officer 45:35 Their wives – one is Japanese 46:35 A ship decorated for christening and launch 47:10 Launching the fishing vessel "Krill" 47:52 Talking with Japanese wife at the window 47:57 Our green-bespectacled gentleman is an Lt. Colonel 48:10 Ballet dancing 48:32 More cabaret dancing 50:20 Trucks and cars at the officers' barracks 51:53 A chained pet monkey eating rice from a bowl. 52:44 Turkeys 53:06 Countryside 54:09 A cabinetmaker 55:19 Grandmother with 2 toddlers 55:22 Mother picks up her toddler from a cart 55:50 HQ building in Yokohama again 56:21 Silk embroidery at home of the officer, who made this movie, curtains waving in the light breeze. 56:35 A Japanese vase holding flowers and willow tree branches, and a small Budai statue sit atop a piano 57:38 A wireless radio set  57:57 Details of the vase 58:33 Oni Noh mask hanging on the wall 59:01 Nicely decorated home overall. Closing shot of the wife .

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