Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Dalton Trumbo (screenplay)
Ted W. Lawson (book) ...

Release Date:

November 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

Heart-Warming Romance . . . Stark, Sensational Drama! Thrills! Action! Adventure! ...Ripped From The Heart!

Plot:

In the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission which will take the war to the Japanese homeland.

Plot Keywords:

China | Bomber | Aircraft Carrier | Japan | Tokyo

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Van Johnson	...	Ted Lawson - Crew of the Ruptured Duck
Robert Walker	...	David Thatcher - Crew of the Ruptured Duck
Tim Murdock	...	Dean Davenport - Crew of the Ruptured Duck
Don DeFore	...	Charles McClure - Crew of the Ruptured Duck
Herbert Gunn	...	Bob Clever - Crew of the Ruptured Duck (as Gordon McDonald)
Phyllis Thaxter	...	Ellen Lawson
Stephen McNally	...	'Doc' White (as Horace McNally)
John R. Reilly	...	'Shorty' Manch
Robert Mitchum	...	Bob Gray
Scott McKay	...	Davey Jones
Donald Curtis	...	Lieut. Randall
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Lieut. Miller
William 'Bill' Phillips	...	Don Smith (as Wm. 'Bill' Phillips)
Douglas Cowan	...	'Brick' Holstrom
Paul Langton	...	Captain 'Ski' York

Runtime:

138 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #10248) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:S | Spain:T | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Chico, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The scars visible on Van Johnson's forehead at the end of the film are not makeup, they're real. He was involved in a near-fatal car accident the previous year just after filming A Guy Named Joe (1943). The filmmakers chose to accentuate rather than hide these scars for the post-mission half of the movie, since his character Ted Lawson was quite banged up, too. They're particularly evident in the last scene of the movie when he's on the floor talking with his wife.

Goofs:

Continuity: After first landing at Eglin Field, from the pilot’s seat, Lawson is speaking to another pilot on the ground. In this scene, the propeller blade visible to Lawson's left is almost parallel to the ground and the tip is close to the fuselage. In the next scene from the ground, the propeller blade is at a much higher angle.

Quotes:

Gen. James Doolittle: [on the phone] Hello, hello, York? Dolittle. I want you to get twenty-four B-25's and volunteer crews down to Eglin Field as soon as you can. The job'll take 'em out of the country for about three months. Tell 'em it's a secret mission. They won't know where they're going until they get there. Thats's right, volunteers. tell them they're not to talk to anybody. That's an order!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Remington Steele: Sting of Steele (#1.21)" (1983)

Soundtrack:

There's a Long, Long Trail

A brief bombing mission but a long story

One of those made-during-the-war war movies that comes with the customary Frank Capra-like homeland security flag-waving and all of that but this is a good flick that stands the test of time.

Oh, it's cornball and the soldiers make like scouts at jamboree but there's an edge here--perhaps because the outcome of the WWII encounter was still in doubt at the time.

As a movie, though, "30 Seconds" has a lot going for it: romance (Van Johnson-Phyllis Thaxter), buddies (Johnson and a young Robert Mitchum), strong Army-Navy relations, strong American-Chinese relations--and plenty of great character parts played by people like Robert Walker, Spencer Tracy and Don DeFore, later to become George Baxter in TV's "Hazel."

There's nothing dated about the cinematography employed here. When the Ruptured Duck flies over Tokyo, you feel like you're right there in the cockpit and the crew's low-altitude escape to China is nothing less than harrowing.

It may not be a 20-20 account of the Doolittle mission to ramp up U.S. spirits after Pearl Harbor but it's a entertaining film with a lot of heavy hitters along for the ride, people like Dalton Trumbo (screenplay)and director Mervyn LeRoy.

Yes, it's one-part propaganda, one part-chin uplifter but there's a lot more to it and it makes my all-time top 10 war movie list.