Marching On

Kiyohiko Ushihara, Shochiku Kamata, 1930, made for the studio's tenth year. Farmer's son Koichi (Denmei Suzuki) wants to fly; Toshiko (Kinuyo Tanaka) introduces him to her pilot brother; war with an unnamed country sends them to the front. The Imperial Army lent aircraft and tanks. Kamata cameramen shot the aerial footage the histories count as Japan's first, cut with models. Kinema Junpo's Shigechika Ikeda (1 April 1930) praised the technique as typical Ushihara. Vidor's The Big Parade and Wellman's Wings are the Hollywood homework.