The Purple Heart is a 1944 American war drama film directed by Lewis Milestone for 20th Century Fox. It stars Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, Don "Red" Barry, Sam Levene, Trudy Marshall, and Farley Granger in an early role.

The film is a dramatization of the "show trial" of a number of US airmen by the Japanese government during World War II. It is loosely based on the trial of eight US airmen who took part in the April 18, 1942, Doolittle Raid on Japan. Three of the eight were subsequently executed and one later died as a POW. This film was the first to deal directly with the Japanese treatment of POWs and ran into opposition from the US War Department, which was afraid that such films would provoke reprisals from the Japanese government.

In April 1942, after a raid on Japan, eight American aircrew made up of the crews from two North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, are captured. Capt. Harvey Ross (Dana Andrews), becomes the leader of the captives. Initially, the men are picked up by a local government official, who turns out to be a Chinese collaborator in a Japanese-controlled section of China. The collaborator delivers the Americans to the Imperial Japanese Army to be put on trial at the Shanghai Police Headquarters. Although international observers and correspondents are allowed to witness the trial, the commanding officer, General Mitsubi refuses to allow the Swiss Consul to contact Washington.

At the start of the trial, Lt. Greenbaum, an attorney in civilian life, declares the trial is illegal, as the men are in the military service of their country. When the senior officer Captain Ross refuses to answer the demands of the sly General Mitsubi to reveal the location of their aircraft carrier, the general decides to break the men. The airmen endure harsh interrogation and torture from the Japanese guards with Sgt. Jan Skvoznik left in a catatonic state with a persistent head twitch. In court, the men see the pitiful state of Skvoznik. Lts. Canelli and Vincent rush the Japanese general, quickly felled by rifle butts and are returned to their cell. Canelli, an artist, suffers a broken right hand and arm. Vincent ends up in a catatonic state much like Skvoznik. Sgt. Clinton returns seemingly unharmed, but the Japanese have ruptured his vocal cords, and he is unable to speak. The Japanese have a listening device in the cell when Greenbaum repeats what the speechless Clinton writes. If anything happens to Lt. Bayforth, he will tell all. After being tortured, Bayforth returns with his hands and arms useless, covered in black rubber gloves.

In the face of his captives' unshakable resolve and the realization that the Japanese are doomed to destruction, General Mitsubi ultimately chooses to shoot himself. The systematic torture and abuse the airmen endured while in captivity, and the final injustice of being tried, convicted and executed as war criminals is unveiled to the world.

Credits from the AFI Catalog of Feature Films:

Darryl F. Zanuck began writing The Purple Heart after returning from war service in the Army Signal Corps. At the time, the War Department opposed portraying Japanese abuses of Allied prisoners-of-war, fearing it would spark reprisals against other POWs. In fact, the War Department did not officially acknowledge such atrocities until January 1944, a month before the film's release, at which time the ban was lifted.

Zanuck did not initially submit the script to the War Department for approval or cooperation, and kept the set closed to prevent censorship or interference. Zanuck and a team of writers endeavoured to ensure that the story was based on documentation and unofficial collaboration of the torture suffered by the prisoners, and "... should be almost documentary in its honesty ..." In his letter to the War Department, Zanuck cited reports by John W. Powell and Otto D. Tolischus of abuses of American prisoners as the story's documentary basis.