The Burning Sky (1940)
The film was produced during Second Sino-Japanese War, before the Pearl Harbor Attack in 1941. The film mainly concerns the training of newly-recruited pilots and their daily life, then their subsequent fighting experiences in China. Army supported the production, providing all the authentic airplanes, training and actual actions. They even provided the older biplanes disguised as Chinese fighter planes. Obinata plays the trainer-turned-combat-leader, who is passionate and cool at the same time. All his boys love him, of course. The film is not as intense, full of sugar-coated camaraderie, until young pilots are killed in action one by one. Last twenty minutes are fairly grim, as the message of self-sacrifice is heard loud and clear.
Director:
Yutaka Abe
Writer:
Yasutaro Yagi
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Susumu Fujita as |
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Taizō Fukami as |
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Katsuhiko Haida as |
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Seishiro Hara as |
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Kazuo Hasegawa as |
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Kaoru Itō as |
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Sōji Kiyokawa as |
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Satoshi Komori as |
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Jun Maki as |
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Den Obinata as |
| Camera | Yoshio Miyajima | Director of Photography |
| Sound | Isamu Suzuki | Sound |
| Lighting | Tsuruzô Nishikawa | Gaffer |
| Editing | Toshio Goto | Editor |
| Directing | Yutaka Abe | Director |
| Writing | Yasutaro Yagi | Screenplay |
| Visual Effects | Eiji Tsuburaya | Visual Effects |
| Production | Yutaka Abe | Producer |
| Crew | Eiji Tsuburaya | Special Effects |
| Visual Effects | Eiji Tsuburaya | Visual Effects Director |
| Writing | Komatsu Kiyamura | Story |
| Sound | Fumio Hayasaka | Original Music Composer |
| Sound | Kosaku Yamada | Original Music Composer |
| Sound | Kosaku Yamada | Songs |
| Sound | Ichiro Fujiyama | Theme Song Performance |
| Art | Takeo Kita | Production Design |