Crisp clean new clothes and not a hair or false eyelash out of place?

One of the biggest problems with these kinds of films, especially when they feature 'stars' is that the actors remain glamorous to the end. These women were in a Japanese internment camp for three years and had no change of clothes other than what they brought with them, which were quickly bartered for necessities or abandoned during the long marches in the tropical heat. All but the dying were forced to perform hard labor in the jungle cutting and hauling teak, which would have soiled their sweat drenched clothes. Half the women interned are known to have died. There may have been a more as the records have vanished or been destroyed. When liberated, the women were severely emaciated and dying of starvation. Many, including Agnes Keith, required months of hospital care to recover.

They were fed on five tablespoons of boiled rice a day with the occasional rare vegetable thrown in - fewer than 1,000 calories a day, which was regularly cut. By the end of the war they were dying of starvation and cholera, dystentery, beri beri and tropical ulcers, and their teeth were falling out. There were no medical supplies as the Red Cross parcels were held by the Japanese and not distributed. Getting food was an obsession. Women were beaten regularly for the slightest or even no reason. Yet Claudette Colbert is shown with her neatly cut and set hair, false eyelashes with nary a bone sticking through her flesh and wearing clean crisp white blouses. At the end when the camp was liberated, the apparently well nourished women were wearing nice clean dresses with not a tear or patch to be seen and appeared to be setting off for Sunday church.

If you want to see a more realistic depiction, watch the BBC 3 season mini series Tenko where the woman wear patched rags, are covered in bites and sores and their hair is falling out.