Men and War

For the 2014 film, see Of Men and War.
Men and War
Theatrical release poster for Part III
戦争と人間
Directed bySatsuo Yamamoto
Screenplay by
  • Nobuo Yamada
  • Atsushi Takeda (II & III)
Based onMen and War
by Junpei Gomikawa
CinematographyShinsaku Himeda
Music byMasaru Sato
Production
company
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 14 August 1970 (1970-08-14) (I)
  • 12 June 1971 (1971-06-12) (II)
  • 11 August 1973 (1973-08-11) (III)
Running time
  • 197 minutes (I)
  • 179 minutes (II)
  • 187 minutes (III)
CountryJapan
LanguagesJapanese
Mandarin
Korean
Russian

Men and War (戦争と人間, Sensō to ningen) is a trilogy of epic war films directed by Satsuo Yamamoto, based on the novel of the same name by Junpei Gomikawa. The films are subtitled Prelude to Destiny (1970), Land of Love and Sorrow (1971), and The Final Chapter (1973). Part I was also released internationally under the title The Battle of Manchuria.[1]

The trilogy follows the rise of the Godai family conglomerate and its involvement in the Second Sino-Japanese War, from the Jinan incident in 1928 to the Nomonhan incident in 1939. Yamamoto had conceived a five-part series, and the story was to continue through the Pacific War to the Tokyo Trials, but Nikkatsu reduced the series to a trilogy after the release of the second film for financial reasons.[2]

  1. ^ Goble, Alan, ed. (1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Bowker-Saur. p. 185. ISBN 9783598114922. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  2. ^ Chang 2017, p. 38.