Tower of the Lilies - Kyoko Kagawa (1953) 

aka (Himeyuri no To)

 

DVD-R, Excellent Remastered Widescreen Print! 
Japanese Language with English Subtitles
(See Screen Grabs)
 
Directed by: Tadashi Imai
Starring: Kyoko Kagawa, Susumu Fujita and Keiko Tsushima
Released January 1953, Public Domain January 1981

 

Tower of the Lilies is the true story of a group of high school girls on the island of Okinawa, who were mobilized into military service as nurses in the closing months of World War II.

The girls, around 200 in all, were thrust into the Battle of Okinawa, one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles in the Pacific. Known as the Himeyuri Corps, they were ordered to join the medical units in large bunker caves where injured soldiers received treatment.

 

As American forces gained a foothold in the southern part of Okinawa and pressed further inland, and with casualties mounting ever higher, the medical units were forced to relocate to a series of caves. After three months of intense fighting, once the Americans finally broke through the last lines of defense, the Japanese military disbanded the Himeyuri Corps. The girls were left to fend for themselves in the face of enemy tanks and the hail of artillery, called the Typhoon of Steel.

 

Remastered Print

1953 B&W Full Screen 130 Mins.

Japanese Language with English Subtitles.