1963 Japan bets everything on hosting—these athletes don't know what's coming.
A documentary film that includes footage of past Olympics held in different countries with an particular emphasis on the activities and successes of Japanese athletes and how they are currently (circa 1963) improving themselves.
Editing
Jarring cuts between 1936 Berlin glory and 1963 training montages
Production
State-funded sports propaganda at peak Cold War anxiety
Director
Kiyohiko Ushihara
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was produced as part of Japan's massive PR campaign to prove postwar rehabilitation through athletic supremacy, mirroring their 1940 'Phantom Olympics' that never happened due to WWII.
Director Kiyohiko Ushihara was a former silent film star turned propagandist; his 1930s 'national policy films' make this Olympic doc feel uncomfortably familiar.
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