This Is Korea! (1951)

Director John Ford's documentary about the beginnings of the Korean War, after North Korenn troops invaded South Korea and battled U.S., South Korean and United Nations forces. Notable in ... See full summary »

Director:

John Ford

Stars:

Edward A. Craig, John Ireland, Turner Joy

Cast

Credited cast:
Edward A. Craig	...	Himself (as Eddie Craig)
John Ireland	...	Narrator
Turner Joy	...	Himself (with shorthand typist)
Douglas MacArthur	...	Himself (arrives by car)
Irving Pichel	...	Narrator
Lewis B. Puller	...	Himself (calls for artillery) (as Chesty Puller)
Arthur W. Radford	...	Himself (at his desk)
O.P. Smith	...	Himself (decorates soldier)
Arthur Struble	...	Himself (with binoculars)

Storyline

Director John Ford's documentary about the beginnings of the Korean War, after North Korenn troops invaded South Korea and battled U.S., South Korean and United Nations forces. Notable in that, unlike many documentaries of the time, it's in color, and no stock footage is used.

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Plot Keywords:

korean war | american soldier | cold war era | exclamation point in title | propaganda | 

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Genres:

Documentary | War

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 August 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

Esto es Corea

Filming Locations:

South Korea

Company Credits

Production Co:

Republic Pictures (I), United States Navy, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Trucolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Available as an extra on the VCI Entertainment 2008 DVD edition of Surrender - Hell!.

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Connections

Featured in The Fifties (1997)

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Soundtracks

"O Little Town of Bethlehem"
(uncredited)
Music by Lewis H. Redner
Lyrics by Phillips Brooks

User Reviews

Nice Documentary from Ford

This is Korea! (1951)

*** (out of 4)

Nice documentary about Ford tries to explain why we entered the Korean War and also shows what torments the people in South Korea were going through when we entered. Ford was no stranger to this type of documentary as he made quite a few of them a decade earlier with his WWII films. I wouldn't say this was better than any of them but at the same time there's some very interesting stuff here. From what I've read this contains most, if not all, of the color footage from the Korean War and that alone makes this film quite important. There's really no story being told as we just keep seeing soldiers, fighting, bombs exploded and countless gunfire. I'm not exactly an expert on Ford but while watching this film it just seemed like he was a very patriotic man who wanted people in American to fully realize and see the dangers that American soldiers were in while doing their jobs. The camera never looks away from death and it appears the director wants people to be reminded that many people go to war and given themselves up to never come back. As far as the footage goes we get a lot of great shots including some aerial stuff where we see an incredibly long line a refugees just looking for a place to go. The color footage perfectly shows off the land, the fighting and some rather amazing look fires along the way. I'm sure there are better documentaries out there that tells the story of the war but this one here does it's job and it worth viewing by history buffs.