Beast of the East (1948)
** (out of 4)
This film was shot and made in the Philippines where it was meant to serve as a serious WWII drama. The film is about a village of Philippeans people who must try to defend themselves when Japanese soldiers land. Their plan is to try and survive until the American troops show up but soon the Japanese are torturing and raping them.
BEAST OF THE EAST is a film that was obviously shot for very little money but you have to give it credit for trying to tell a pretty brutal story. WWII buffs will probably know some of the horrors that were done in the Philippines and I give the filmmakers credit for trying to tell that story just a few years after the war. Obviously, with the lack of money and talent the film wasn't a complete success but at the same time film buffs should check it out.
What I enjoyed the most about the film is the fact that it did shows some of the horrors. These scenes mainly take place with people chained up and being beaten and one man has his toes set on fire. The attack on the women aren't the most graphic thing you're going to see but this stuff certainly weren't being shown in American and British WWII films. With that being said, the print I watched ran just 64-minutes so I'm not sure if footage is missing. The IMDb lists a running time of 78-minutes but I'm not sure if that's true or what. There's not too much information out there on the film.
With all of that said, I'd personally recommend the film just so people could see a different point of view on the war. There's no John Wayne showing up to save the day here.