[Orosius]

Sounds like THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO, maybe.

[ThunderSleeps]

IMDB Philip Ahn... Also googled the line you provided. I think maybe “China Girl” ???

[Orosius]

Scratch that, he wasn’t in it. Maybe DRAGON SEED?

[Orosius]

CHINA SKY’s another possible.

[Retrofitted]

Sounds like “China Sky” to me. Do you remember who else was in it? “China Sky” starred Randolph Scott, if that helps, and it was set mostly in a hospital in China.

[LouieFisk]

If you go thru his list of films, it maybe should pop to mind:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0014217/

[jjotto]

Maybe

China (1943)

It featured fleeing students.

There are sources that say he was in dozens of WW2 movies.

[Bonemaker]

Don’t know but checkout “12 o’clock High” with Gregory Peck. It was mandatory viewing when I went into Air Force. Also, as a younger kid “Fighter Squadron” with Robert Stack made an impression.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Thank you all!

I know it's not China (which I watched), nor do I think it was China Sky, in which Mr. Ahn plays a doctor, not a teacher. And I've seen Thirty Seconds over Tokyo and really don't think such a scene is included.

Anyway, thank you all for the suggestions. It's going to just have to remain a mystery, at least for now.

China did have another scene I was looking for, however.

[fidelis]

According to the book, The American Experience in World War II, the movie was China Girl, starring Jim Montgomery and Gene Tierney. It doesn't mention the actor in the scene, but it quotes the dialogue you cited.

Google Books: The American Experience in World War II, page 67.

[Yosemitest]

Flying Tigers




Product description

Wayne stars as squadron leader of the American Volunteer Group of Flying Tigers, who fought for China's freedom from the Japanese before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: NR
Release Date: 26-MAR-2002
Media Type: DVD

Amazon.com

John Wayne plays the tough commander of Flying Tigers, the famous fighter squadron that fought to save China from the Japanese. Wayne finds he is fighting a war on two fronts: he's taking on the enemy with only a handful of inexperienced men and patched-up planes while keeping a cocky new pilot from stealing his girl. The story has little in common with real history, and lots of classic post-Pearl Harbor propaganda fills the script. Regardless, the movie is all Wayne's, and Wayne fans will enjoy seeing the prototype for what would become the Duke's trademark portrayal of the military fighting man.

Although the pressure of making life-and-death decisions in wartime may be more maturely explored in Twelve O'Clock High , Flying Tigers still has enough characterization and action to keep the viewer's attention (not to mention special effects by the pioneering Howard Lydecker). --Mark Savary