''The Battle'' (also known as ''Thunder in the East'') is a 1934

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ...

–

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

co-production English language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Nicolas Farkas, and starring

Charles Boyer Charles Boyer (; 28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American fi ...

Merle Oberon Merle Oberon (born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson; 19 February 191123 November 1979) was a British actress who began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' (1933). After her success in ''The Scarle ...

and John Loder. It was adapted from a 1909 French novel by

Claude Farrère Claude Farrère, pseudonym of Frédéric-Charles Bargone (27 April 1876, in Lyon – 21 June 1957, in Paris), was a French Navy officer and writer. Many of his novels are based in exotic locations such as Istanbul, Saigon, or Nagasaki. One ...

entitled ''La bataille''.

Plot

In 1904 during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, a Japanese naval officer gets his wife, played by Merle Oberon, to seduce a British attaché in order to gain secrets from him. Things begin to go wrong when she instead falls in love with him.

Cast

as Marquis Yorisaka *

as Marquise Yorisaka * John Loder as Fergan *

Betty Stockfeld Betty Stockfeld (15 January 190527 January 1966), often misspelled "Stockfield", was an Australian film actress. She appeared mostly in British and French films. Betty was the daughter of Sydney businessman Harry Hooper Stockfeld and Susan Eli ...

as Betty Hockley * Valéry Inkijinoff as Hirata *

Miles Mander Miles Mander (born Lionel Henry Mander; 14 May 1888 – 8 February 1946), was an English character actor of the early Hollywood cinema, also a film director and producer, and a playwright and novelist. He was sometimes credited as Luther Mile ...

as Feize * Henri Fabert as The Admiral

Production

This was first released as a French-language film entitled ''La bataille'' with many of the same cast members, but with Oberon's part played by the French actress Annabella. In the United States, the English film was released in August 1935 under the title ''Thunder in the East''. The English version was revived in 1943 under a new title, ''Hara-Kiri'', and changes were made that transformed the film into an anti-Japanese wartime propaganda film. The primary changes were a foreword relating to Pearl Harbour and Japanese perfidy, as well as an epilogue about the cowardice of hara-kiri.

References

Bibliography

* Cook, Pam. ''Gainsborough Pictures''. Cassell, 1997.

External links