Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

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.

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Dalton Trumbo (screen play), Ted W. Lawson (based on the book),

Stars:

Van Johnson, Robert Walker, Tim Murdock

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Van Johnson	...	Ted Lawson
Robert Walker	...	David Thatcher
Tim Murdock	...	Dean Davenport
Don DeFore	...	Charles McClure
Herbert Gunn	...	Bob Clever (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

Storyline

The amazingly detailed true story of "The Doolittle Raid" based on the personal account by Doolittle Raider Ted Lawson. Stunned by Pearl Harbor and a string of defeats, America needed a victory - badly. To that end, Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, a former air racer and stunt pilot, devises a plan for a daring raid on the heart of Japan itself. To do this, he must train army bomber pilots to do something no one ever dreamed possible - launch 16 fully loaded bombers from an aircraft carrier! Remarkable in its accuracy, this movie even uses film footage from the actual raid.

---

Plot Keywords:

bomber | china | aircraft carrier | japan | doolittle raid | 

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Drama | History | War

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

November 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

Trinta Segundos Sobre Tóquio

Filming Locations:

Chico, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

138 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Actual footage of the B-25 Mitchell bombers taking off from the U.S.S. Hornet was used in the film.

---

Goofs

The 3-pointed 'pinwheel' shoulder patches worn by the crewmen are those of the General Headquarters (GHQ) Army Air Corps, which was established in 1935. However, when the Air Corps was renamed the Army Air Forces (AAF) in June 1941 (ten months before the Doolittle raid), GHQ was abolished and a new 'winged star' AAF shoulder patch was adopted. The new patch should have been worn in this film.

---

Quotes

[repeated lines]
Lt. Ted Lawson: Tell me, Honey, how come you're so cute?
Ellen Lawson: I had to be if I was going to get such a good-looking fella.

---

Connections

Referenced in McHale's Navy: Movies Are Your Best Diversion (1962)

---

Soundtracks

"The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You"
(1903) (uncredited)
Written by John Lang Sinclair
Sung by the men in the barracks

User Reviews

It's about the Doolittle Raid.

I know it's a World War Two propaganda movie. And I know that Hollywood treatments of historical subjects must be taken with a huge boulder-size grain of salt. That being said, this is a credible movie that is worth watching. The fact is that the Doolittle Raid DID happen, that in early 1942 the outcome of the war against Japan was at best uncertain, and that Japanese aggression post Pearl Harbor posed a clear and imminent threat to the United States. It's hard to believe that Japan was THAT powerful, but it was. Japan occupied or controlled about one-quarter of the surface of the world, including most of eastern China, all of Manchuria, the ENTIRE Korean peninsula, ALL of southeast Asia, including ALL of Indonesia and Singapore, the Philippines, and the entire western Pacific Ocean. And Japan accomplished this ALL BY ITSELF. So the Doolittle Raid was a truly momentous event, as the movie aptly shows, and thus even with all the clichés and all the stilted and corny acting, the movie is still worth watching. The Doolittle Raid marked the beginning of the end for Japan, because it blew away the myth of Japanese invincibility and proved to the world that it was just a matter of time before a fleet of sixteen B-25 Mitchell bombers would be followed by huge air armadas of B-29s that would crush Japanese militarism for all time and eventually convert Japan from an implacable enemy to an allie and a friend.