''China's Little Devils'' (aka ''Little Devils'') is a 1945 war film, directed by

Monta Bell Louis Monta Bell (February 5, 1891 – February 4, 1958) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Biography Monta Bell first appeared in theatrical venues with Washington D.C. Summer stock theatre, stock companies and then ...

and starring Harry Carey, Paul Kelly and "Ducky" Louie. It is one of a number of Hollywood films dealing with the exploits of the

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States ...

that began with the

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City a ...

production ''Flying Tigers'' (1942).

Plot

After being shot down, "Big Butch" Dooley ( Paul Kelly), a Flying Tigers pilot lands his

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

in the ruins of a Chinese village. After he rescues a wounded boy, orphaned by the war, Dooley takes him back to his unit. The young orphan is adopted by the Flying Tigers, and is called "Little Butch" Dooley. Big Butch and the other Tigers realize that the boy needs a proper education and send him to the Temple Missionary School run by "Doc" Temple ( Harry Carey). Little Butch organizes the other refugee children and trains them in fighting the invading Japanese. Leading the children, dubbed "Little Devils," in nightly raids, Little Dutch takes over a store of gasoline, but he is wounded during the battle. Two of the two of the Little Devils are taken prisoner while blowing up a Japanese supply base. When Doc pleads with a Japanese officer for their release, he learns about the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawa ...

and realizes he will be taken prisoner. Little Butch rescues Doc, and soon after, the Japanese bomb the mission. Later, an American aircraft crashes, and the Little Devils race with the Japanese to reach the wreck. The Little Devils find the aircraft first and are surprised to discover that the pilot is Big Butch. After treating Big Butch's wounds, the Little Devils help him cross a river and return safely to the Chinese lines. As the young boys are escaping, however, a Japanese patrol converges on them. They sacrifice their lives while shooting it out with the enemy, and sometime later, the spirit of Little Butch rides with Big Butch, as he drops bombs on Tokyo.

Cast

* Harry Carey as "Doc" Temple * Paul Kelly as "Big Butch" Dooley * "Ducky" Louie as Little Butch Dooley * Gloria Ann Chew as Betty Lou * Hayward Soo Hoo as Little Joe Doakes *

Jimmie Dodd James Wesley Dodd (March 28, 1910 – November 10, 1964) was an American actor, singer and songwriter best known as the master of ceremonies for the popular 1950s Walt Disney television series ''The Mickey Mouse Club,'' as well as the write ...

as Eddie (as Jimmy Dodd) * Ralph Lewis as Harry *

Philip Ahn Philip Ahn (born Pillip Ahn (), March 29, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was an American actor and activist of Korean descent. With over 180 film and television credits between 1935 and 1978, he was one of the most recognizable and prolific Asi ...

as Farmer *

Richard Loo Richard Loo (October 1, 1903 – November 20, 1983) was an American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1931 and 1982. Early lif ...

as Colonel Huraji * Wing Foo as Captain Subi * Jean Wong as Nurse * Fred Mah as Patrick *

Nancy Hsueh Nancy Hsueh (February 25, 1941 – November 24, 1980) was an American actress. She was one of the first Asian American actresses to have a leading role in a U.S. television series, '' Love is a Many Splendored Thing'' (1967), regarded as the first ...

as Baby * Oie Chan as Farmer's wife * Aen-Ling Chow as Daughter

Production

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios in ...

had a history of

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feat ...

productions and ''China's Little Devils'' fits that scenario. The film utilized sequences from ''Flying Tigers'' (1942) as well, as the

Curtiss P-40 The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

mockup In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a '' prototype'' if it provides at lea ...

s used in the earlier film. Principal photography on ''China's Little Devils'' took place from June 30 until early August, 1944. Most of the filming took place on studio backlots."Original print information: 'China's Little Devils' (1945)."
''TCM'', 2019. Retrieved: June 30, 2019.

Reception

Film historian Leonard Maltin described ''China's Little Devils'' as a "Patriotic WW2 yarn involving Chinese waifs who battle Japanese invaders and come to the aid of downed American pilots."

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1st ed.). Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: TAB Books 1984. . * Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. .

External links

* * {{Monta Bell American aviation films American war films American black-and-white films Films about orphans Films directed by Monta Bell Films set in China Flying Tigers in fiction Monogram Pictures films Second Sino-Japanese War films World War II films made in wartime 1945 war films 1940s English-language films