Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

why Magee did not present it to the court as evidence. Even if his film did not capturecritical moments of atrocities, he should have presented it to the court as corroborativeevidence if he had indeed witnessed Japanese atrocities.Many Westerners in Nanking were aware of this “Magee film.” Miner S. Bates,who also testified at the IMTFE, was one of them. So were George A. Fitch, who usedthe “Magee film” during his lecture tour in the United States, and those who watched thefilm in Fitch’s lectures. Thus, those viewers could have served witnesses to lend credenceto the “Magee film” if Magee had attempted to have his film deposited as evidence to theIMTFE. Nevertheless, he did not do so. This fact seemingly testifies to the lack ofconfidence on the part of Magee and Bates in the probative value of the film. One mayeven speculate that Magee failed to have his film introduced to the court because he wasafraid that the actual demonstration of the film might discredit his verbal testimony at thecourt.(b) Subtitles to produce a propaganda effectQuite a few people have treated the “Magee film” as definitive evidence of thealleged Rape of Nanking from the time of the IMTFE through to the present. Althoughthere are several hypotheses with respect to who really masterminded such a highlighteduse of the film, the research team will not make any probe into this subject since it isbeyond the purview of this book’s topic.The first to use the “Magee film” on the media was Harold J. Timperly. Prior tothe publication of his What War Means, he exchanged correspondences with Bates andStanley K. Hornbeck, then chief of the U.S. State Department’s Far Eastern division. Inthe letter to the two dated February 16, 1938, Timperly said that he had deleted someunnecessary segments of the film and inserted subtitles to it so that the viewers couldunderstand the scenes recorded there. Timperly added that the insertion of the subtitleshad animated the film, and that its effect would become clear if one actually saw it. Healso said that he had been contemplating some brilliant ideas for a few days after he hadseen Magee’s film, which George A. Fitch had brought to him.In summary, what is known today as the “Magee film” is a modified version ofMagee’s original voiceless motion picture with the addition of subtitles. As examples ofhow the insertion of subtitles may affect the viewer’s impression, four of the oft-used stillimages of the “Magee film” will be shown in the following. Since RON-YY attachescaptions to these images as well, the research team will comment on them as well.Photo 116: One of the “Magee photos”: a scene photographed through a window.Photo A: “Japanese patrols rounding up Chinese for execution.” A photograph in The GoodMan of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe, p. 149.187