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.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.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
- Writers
- Dalton Trumbo(screen play)
- Ted W. Lawson(based on the book)
- Bob Considine(based on the book)
- Stars
- Director
- Writers
- Dalton Trumbo(screen play)
- Ted W. Lawson(based on the book)
- Bob Considine(based on the book)
- Stars
- Won 1 Oscar
- 2 wins & 1 nomination total
Herbert Gunn
- Bob Clever
- (as Gordon McDonald)
Stephen McNally
- 'Doc' White
- (as Horace McNally)
William 'Bill' Phillips
- Don Smith
- (as Wm. 'Bill' Phillips)
- Director
- Writers
- Dalton Trumbo(screen play)
- Ted W. Lawson(based on the book)
- Bob Considine(based on the book)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen Lawson's plane arrives in Tokyo and sees the fire and smoke from the previous bomber, Davy Jones, we are not looking at a special effect. During the making of the film, there was a fuel-oil fire in Oakland, near the filming location. The quick-thinking filmmakers scrambled to fly their camera plane and B-25 through the area, capturing some very real footage for the movie.
- GoofsThe injuries of the crew of the Ruptured Duck are not completely correct. Lawson was hurt the worse, as the movie tries to portray, but in fact his face was pushed in from going through the windscreen of his plane. All of his front teeth were loosened and fell out into his hand when he tried to straighten them. His lower lip was laid open to the cleft in his chin. In addition to his leg being gashed open, his left bicep was severed in half. McClure's injuries were accurately portrayed; both shoulders were broken from hitting the backs of Lawson and Davenports seats. Davenport was shown was being non-ambulatory in the movie and generally helpless; however, other than a bad cut on his forehead (he went through the windscreen too), he was able to move around and help his three more badly injured crew mates. Clever was as badly injured as the movie portrayed him. Thatcher was the least injured, although he had a bleeding bump on his head, which was not shown in the movie. Thatcher received commendation for his efforts to help the three badly-injured crew members.
- Quotes
Ted Lawson: Goodbye.
Young Dr. Chung: I have one sorrow, Lieutenant. that we did not have the medicine to ease your pain.
Ted Lawson: You saved my life, Doc.
Young Dr. Chung: I hope that someday you'll come back to us.
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.
- Crazy creditsIntro: "One-hundred and thirty-one days after December 7, 1941, a handful of young men, who had never dreamed of glory, struck the first blow at the heart of Japan. This is their true story we tell here."
- Alternate versionsThere is an alternate colorized version.
- ConnectionsEdited into Bridge to the Sun (1961)
- SoundtracksThe Army Air Corps Song
(1939) (uncredited)
Written by Robert Crawford
Played during the opening credits
Featured review
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. 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.
helpful•406
- PWNYCNY
- Aug 3, 2005
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $2,900,000 (estimated)
- Runtime2 hours 18 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) officially released in India in English?
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