There is an allusion in the film "In Harm's Way" to the Nanking Massacre of January 1938. In this horrific event, there was mass murder and rape committed against the residents of Nanjing by the bellicose Empire of Japan. In the film, the husband of Ying lost his life at Nanking. But this film focuses on a less well-known World War II event, the atrocities committed Zhejiang Province in China.
The time is 1942. The place is Tokyo. The action is bombing mission of Jimmy Doolittle's crackerjack pilots in response to the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the previous December. Captain Jack Turner is the pilot who has led a successful raid over Tokyo. But when he pilots his aircraft to safety in Zhejiang Province in China, he and his crew must bail out of the damaged plane.
Jack is the only crew member not captured by the Japanese. In the main drama of the film, he is taken in and cared for by a kind Chinese widow named Ying, who lives with her daughter Nunu. Jack is seriously wounded with a leg injury. With the potential of grave danger to herself and her daughter, Ying nurses Jack back to health. In the process, the two characters fall in love. The strength of the film is the bonding of Jack and Ying.
As an ally of the United States, the Chinese nation helped to rescue many GIs like Jack Turner during the war. 250,000 Chinese civilians of the Zhejiang Province sacrificed their lives. While the film weaves an effective historical yarn, it is the sensitive relationship of Ying and Jack that will be most memorable to viewers. This was a beautiful love story couched in an important historical epoch.
The time is 1942. The place is Tokyo. The action is bombing mission of Jimmy Doolittle's crackerjack pilots in response to the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the previous December. Captain Jack Turner is the pilot who has led a successful raid over Tokyo. But when he pilots his aircraft to safety in Zhejiang Province in China, he and his crew must bail out of the damaged plane.
Jack is the only crew member not captured by the Japanese. In the main drama of the film, he is taken in and cared for by a kind Chinese widow named Ying, who lives with her daughter Nunu. Jack is seriously wounded with a leg injury. With the potential of grave danger to herself and her daughter, Ying nurses Jack back to health. In the process, the two characters fall in love. The strength of the film is the bonding of Jack and Ying.
As an ally of the United States, the Chinese nation helped to rescue many GIs like Jack Turner during the war. 250,000 Chinese civilians of the Zhejiang Province sacrificed their lives. While the film weaves an effective historical yarn, it is the sensitive relationship of Ying and Jack that will be most memorable to viewers. This was a beautiful love story couched in an important historical epoch.