Kodak Ektra

[John C. Ling]

In the documentary made about the Pearl Harbor attack by John Ford during the Second World War, there is a brief contrived segment of a spy using a Kodak Ektra camera photographing a military installation on Oahu. I was quite surprised, as this is the only instance that I ever saw this camera’s use on film. I always wondered why an Ektra was selected and not a Leica or a Zeiss Contax rangefinder. These two brands were certainly much more common. How did such an expensive American-made camera end up in prewar Hawaii? Was it the personal property of someone involved in this Hollywood documentary and utilized on the spur of the moment?

 

[Retro-Grouch]

In the documentary made about the Pearl Harbor attack by John Ford during the Second World War, there is a brief contrived segment of a spy using a Kodak Ektra camera photographing a military installation on Oahu. I was quite surprised, as this is the only instance that I ever saw this camera’s use on film. I always wondered why an Ektra was selected and not a Leica or a Zeiss Contax rangefinder. These two brands were certainly much more common. How did such an expensive American-made camera end up in prewar Hawaii? Was it the personal property of someone involved in this Hollywood documentary and utilized on the spur of the moment?

I would go with your theory. Sort of like what you see in clothing catalogs when they try to go retro-hipster: clueless models holding a Leica M3 to their eyes with their fingers over the viewfinder window. The photographer used his own camera as a prop, clearly.

 

[Hcompton79]

That scene is taken from a US propaganda film made in 1942 by the Army Pictoral Service as part of a series called "Know Your Enemy". The Kodak Ektra was chosen because the US Signal Corps had Ektras in their inventory and were able to loan them to the Pictoral Service for the making of the film.

The film can be seen here:
The Ektra scene starts at about 47:16

 

[John C. Ling]

I think that the Kodak Ektra was featured briefly in two documentaries during WWII ( ‘Know your Enemy: Japan’ and ‘December 7’ by John Ford). Probably the same clip was used in both films, both not authentic war film. I think that probably there is no authentic film of the actual Pearl Harbor attack. Every thing shown in documentaries is fake. Still pictures are the only true depiction of the event.