Cuando yo vuelva

Destination Tokyo (1943)

While not officially a propaganda film (it's not endorsed or paid for by the government), this is one of many films the studios put out to basically join the effort, putting their shoulder to the wheel. It's not a great film for our times mostly because it's overflowing with lessons, with the propagandistic style of persuading us the Japanese were bad and the U.S. soldiers, with all their wonderful flaws, were out to save us.

I say this first because it's a lot of baggage to wade through. The other side to this coin is an adventure war movie where Cary Grant is in charge of a submarine out for a special mission. It's well paced, generally well acted (the cast is filled with lesser actors along with the main three). John Garfield is an average sailor with a big role, and big ego that grates on some of the other sailors. But he tells ribald stories that they can't help listening to. The one older actor is the cook played by character actor Alan Hale, who is appropriately comic.

So, what you get is some very talented people explaining the current events, including lots of anti-Japanese chat. The interior shots in the sub are fairly realistic (though from what I read, an actual sub is far more cramped). The outside stuff varies a lot in quality. The shots of the sub underwater are painfully crude models in water tanks. Some of the landscapes are also invented in the studio and you can tell.

What carries it at all is a sense of danger and necessity. These men have to succeed to defeat evil. Remember (of course) the audience at the time had a very black and white view of the war, and of the enemies. They were anxious for confirmation that we were capable of such things, and that the enemy (Japan, but also Germany is discussed) is fundamentally wrong—they lack freedoms, the woman are simply alive to bear children, no free press, etc.

Why did I watch it? Cary Grant. I'm curious about his range, and his being corralled into this kind of vehicle. I'm guessing he was partly interested in helping the war effort, and partly under contract. And you know what? He's great. He plays it straight, and he's smart, confident, warm, complex. If you like Grant, you might like this movie just for that reason.

Another thing to say overall: it gets better as it goes. The set up in the first half is a bit obvious and sometimes stiff or slow. But there is a medical emergency which is pretty great, and then there is the general operation in Tokyo Harbor. It's all dramatic and well done by first-time director Delmar Daves. Yeah, it's got a lot of dated script to wade through, but the best of it is great war stuff best remembered for its context.

With all the stir over Bruckheimer and Bay's silly PEARL HARBOR action ride, you might want to see some more realistic and gritty war films. Among them should be the historical retelling of Pearl Harbor in TORA! TORA! TORA! and the Doolittle raid in THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO.

The Doolittle raid would not have been possible without the scouting job of the submarine that snuck into Tokyo bay to guide the plains in over the city. This film gives a rousing account of that mission as well as a beautifully done propaganda job to keep the troops and folks back home energized during the war.

The film still stands up well as a genuine action adventure. Definitely a movie for those who enjoy great film.

This film is a bona-fide classic. Made during the height of the war, and before it was a foregone conclusion that the Allies would prevail, it shows a surprisingly detailed (if romanticized) portrayal of life in the "Silent Service". The characters are finely drawn with a craftsman director's skill, and are the archetypes for subsequent films, not derivative cartoons.

This, like all films made during the war, must be taken in context as a form of propaganda. But it is still a fine effort that produces lasting impressions. Remember that a large number of viewers in theaters had family or friends serving in the military, and must have been astonished to see how their loved ones were fighting the war. While many technical details were abstracted for obvious security reasons, there are sufficiently accurate scenarios to satisfy. The appendectomy performed by a pharmacists mate with no surgical training was a real incident adapted for the screen.

All in all, a memorable epic which, like Casablanca, tells a story from a sense of urgency we cannot recreate today. Invaluable, and deserving of a good DVD transfer.

This movie is a great example of a thriller, not looking to be a non-fiction account of a WWII sub, just a great story with a group of true professionals. Cary Grant was so compelling in this role that Tony Curtis said he based his famous part in Some Like It Hot on Cary Grant's performance in this picture, and that Curtis always wanted to do a movie with Grant on a submarine from that moment forward---and of course got his wish with Operation Petticoat. A previous reviewer slammed this movie for its anti-Japanese propaganda. Perhaps a slight bit of history would help. Statisitically, an American POW was FOUR times likely to die as a prisoner of the Japanese than of the Germans. The end of the war saved the lives of thousands of Americans because their treatment in Japanese camps was so horrifying. Six foot tall sailors weighing 100 pounds was not an uncommon site. The same Japanese military also starved its own people in places like Okinawa to feed itself, and I would hope that all people would now be familiar with the 'rape of Nanking,' so what was called propaganda was more just the way of the world at the time. This is one reason that the people who fought for America during World War II are revered and treasured so much.

I saw it at age seven, and the impact on me was no different than on adults. We struck back at the sneaking enemy. We were on the road to revenge for Pearl Harbor. Aside from all that, here is what I think today. Cary Grant was the perfect hero for us. He was calm and determined. He was real. Then there was John Garfield who spoke for all of us when he branded Japan as a police state. Dane Clark was very good, if somewhat emotional And Charlie of the Angels, John Forsythe, made his debut and he too was good. There was some propaganda, but really not that much. The movie demonstrated the perfect resolve of the USA to destroy the "Japs" as we called them in wartime. It is still a good flick.