The 400 Million

Story

Synopsis

Joris Ivens’s wartime documentary of China’s resistance to the Japanese invasion, cross-cutting civilian exodus and bombing with the Nationalist state’s mobilization—schools, industry, dispersed war production, foreign relief—and guerrilla fighting. Framing an ancient nation of “400 million,” it contrasts tradition with modernization and closes on the unresolved question of victory.

Directors

Joris Ivens, John Fernhout

Writers

Joris Ivens, Dudley Nichols

Language

English

Country

United States of America

Release date

7 March 1939

Ensemble

Cast

• 

  Fredric March

  Narration (voice)

• 

  Morris Carnovsky

  Additional Voice (voice)

• 

  Sidney Lumet

  Additional Voice (voice)

• 

  Robert Q. Lewis

  Additional Voice (voice)

• 

  Alfred Ryder

  Additional Voice (voice)

• Adelaide Bean

  Additional Voice (voice)

• Lai Sek

  Himself (archive footage)

• Madame Chiang

  Herself (archive footage)