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:

Debut of John Dehner.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The map that Col. Doolittle shows the crews at the beginning of the mission training indicating the location of the four auxiliary airfields has no relationship at all with the Eglin Army Air Field reservation or the northwest Gulfcoast of Florida where the training took place.

Quotes:

Lt. Ted Lawson: Goodbye.
Young Dr. Chung: I have one sorrow, Lieutenant. that we did not have the medicine to ease your pain.
Lt. Ted Lawson: You saved my life, Doc.
Young Dr. Chung: I hope that someday you'll come back to us.
Lt. Ted Lawson: We'll be back. Maybe not us ourselves but a lotta guys like us, and I'd like to be with them. You're our kind of people.
Young Dr. Chung: Thank you, sir.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Greatest American Hero: Thirty Seconds Over Little Tokyo (#3.9)" (1983)

Soundtrack:

There's a Long, Long Trail

Supreme Courage

I am a retired professional pilot with thirty-eight years experience and I can tell you what the Doolittle Raiders did took more raw courage than you can possibly imagine if you are not a pilot yourself. Simply taking off from an aircraft carrier is dangerous enough for a naval aircraft. Now do it with a heavily loaded bomber not designed for the task flown by pilots who had never even been on a carrier before. Okay, that's scary enough, now I'll try to explain the technical difficulties. Simply stated, to take off a multi engine aircraft at very low airspeed (Necessary for the short length of the deck) is to invite disaster. This is because if you lose an engine as you lift off, the torque from the good engine would roll the aircraft over on its back and into the sea. Now if you survive those rigors you still have to fly to Japan, brave the anti-aircraft fire and fighters, unload your bombs, try to make to China (Low on fuel) find some primitive landing strip at night, which may have fallen into enemy hands by the time you arrive. This movie is but a small tribute to these brave heroes, so please forgive any perceptions of WWII propaganda. Supreme courage? You bet!