Pacific Frontiers

This March of Time issue, which was released following Japan’s surrender in August 1945, reflects on America’s new power in the Pacific. The rebuilding of Guam showcases America’s efforts to repair the devastation caused by the war and her new responsibilities towards the people of the Pacific Islands. A scene showing sailors teaching navy songs to dubious looking islanders and and offering them barbecued hotdogs suggests an uncomfortable clash of cultures in a somewhat uneven film.

When the island of Guam was conquered by Japan in 1941 it would be nearly three years before the vital strategic outpost was taken back by US forces. This issue documents the battle to retake Guam and describes its reconstruction in detail, with plentiful shots of bulldozers, asphalt plants, new highways and modern military hospitals: not the usual images that spring to mind when picturing the war in the Pacific but significant in the context of a film which looks ahead to the postwar settlement. The film’s final sequence, which mentions the devastation of Hiroshima and Japan’s defeat, gives the impression of being tacked on, suggesting that the film was already in production when Japan surrendered.