Described as a musical comedy,[1] the film was directed by Richard Poh (Bu Wancang) and stars Nancy Chan (credited as Chen Yunshang)[1] as the title character.

[2] The screenplay by Ouyang Yuqian, was produced in Shanghai by the Hwa Cheng Studio (華成製片廠), a subsidiary of the Xinhua Film Company.

Frustrated and persistent, Mulan continues to make preparations in secret and on the day of the attack, they manage to strategically reclaim their city as the commander is found guilty of being a traitor and is executed.

After her heroic achievements and brave service to the State, Mulan finally reveals her life as a woman while Liu symbolically restores the conventional male role.

By blending elements of national resistance with comedic and entertaining undertones, the film managed to cater to the unique tastes of the ‘Solitary Island’ audience while adhering to the expectations of the Shanghai Municipal Council.

[10] While in Hong Kong, however, he managed to sign with the playwright Ouyang Yuqian to pen his film, and Cantonese actress Chen Yunshang to star.

[11] To promote Chen Yunshang, the actress who portrayed Mulan, the studio drew an image of her as a Westernized persona in real life and on-screen.

[2] Mulan Joins the Army was made during the Japanese occupation of China and the so-called "Solitary Island" period of Chinese cinema.

Premiering in Shanghai's newest theater, the Astor in February 1939,[9] in time for the Chinese New Year, Mulan Joins the Army ended up being a critical success.

[13] It was moreover, a major commercial success, playing to full theaters in Shanghai and remained on-screen for 85 consecutive days,[14] as well as making its lead, Chen Yunshang, into a bona fide star.

[18] They argued that the film’s recurring motif, introduced in three separate interludes with the phrase “When the sun rises, it shines over the whole world,” was a veiled reference to Japan.

The weak Chinese generals and the outside nomad invaders all would have reminded the audience of the country's woes at that time, namely the corrupt warlords within the Nationalist establishment and the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

As one scholar posits, the film was seen as a call to arms, with the Chinese hero (or in this case, heroine) rising up to defeat foreign attackers striking a particularly resonant chord.

[21] The director used various cinematic techniques and angles to implore the public to reflect on the current political situation, drawing the parallel with reality at the time.

[24] When China citizens needed the motivation to defend the nation from foreign aggression, the film helped inspire Chinese people to enlist and liberate their country from Japanese occupation.

[24] During the male dominated time period in China, women were supposed to raise children, do housework and rarely involved themselves in politics.

However, these female models shown through big screens inspired women to step up in those areas and begin to show their political potential.

[26] With the political allegory, the director describes an issue that is mentioned multiple times in the movie: Chinese men are not able to protect their motherland.

[27] In the film, Mulan is depicted as the epitome of Confucian virtues, embodying the roles of a filial daughter and a virtuous soldier, willing to sacrifice her life rather than compromise her identity and dishonor her family.

Mulan is portrayed as a person of profound familial and patriotic obligation, maintaining her integrity as she carves out her place in battle and prevails against formidable challenges.

[30] Among the many ways in which Chinese dramatists sought to galvanize the support of the people to fight against the invading Japanese, perhaps none was more effective and appealing than the cultivation and exaltation of female resistance symbols.