| Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Mervyn LeRoy |
| Produced by | Sam Zimbalist |
| Screenplay by | Dalton Trumbo |
| Based on | Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Ted W. Lawson and Robert Considine |
| Starring | Van Johnson Robert Walker Spencer Tracy |
| Music by | Herbert Stothart |
| Cinematography | Robert Surtees, ASC Harold Rosson, ASC |
| Editing by | Frank Sullivan |
| Studio | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | November 15, 1944 |
| Running time | 138 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo is a 1944 MGM war film. It is based on the true story of America's first retaliatory air strike against Japan four months after the December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The movie was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sam Zimbalist. The screenplay by Dalton Trumbo was based on the 1943 book of the same name by Captain Ted W. Lawson, a pilot who participated in the raid. In both the book and the film, Lawson gives an eyewitness account of the training, the mission, and the aftermath as experienced by his crew and others that flew on the Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942. Lawson piloted "The Ruptured Duck", the seventh of 16 B-25s to take off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet.
The film stars Van Johnson as Lawson, Phyllis Thaxter as his wife Ellen, Robert Walker as Corporal David Thatcher, Robert Mitchum as Lt. Bob Gray and Spencer Tracy as Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, the man who planned and led the raid.
The film is noted for its accurate depiction of the historical details of the raid, as well as its use of actual wartime footage of the bombers in some flying scenes.
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The film begins in February 1942 as the United States Army Air Forces plan to retaliate for the Pearl Harbor attack by bombing Tokyo and four other Japanese cities. Lt.Col. James Doolittle (Spencer Tracy), the leader of the mission, assembles a volunteer force of aircrews who begin their top secret training by learning to take their B-25 Mitchell medium bombers off in the short distance of 500 feet or less to simulate taking off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. After depicting the squadron's month of hazardous training at Eglin Field, Florida and NAS Alameda, California the story goes on to describe the raid's aftermath.
While en route to Japan, the Hornet's task force is discovered by Japanese picket boats, and the bombers are forced to take off twelve hours early at the extreme limit of their range. After their successful attack on Japan, all but one of the B-25s run out of fuel before reaching their recovery airfields in China. As a result, their crews are forced to either bail out over China or crash land along the coast (one bomber landed safely in Russia and its crew was interned for over a year). Lawson's B-25 unexpectedly crashes in the surf while trying to land on a beach in darkness and heavy rain. He and his crew survive, but then face tremendous hardships and danger while being escorted to American lines by friendly Chinese. While still in China, Lawson has a leg amputated by the mission's flight surgeon as a result of his serious crash injuries. The film ends with Lawson being reunited with his wife Ellen in a Washington, DC, hospital.
As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):
Verisimilitude was obtained by working closely with Captain Ted Lawson and other members of the raid. The use of Hurlburt Field and Peel Field near Pensacola, Florida and Eglin Field (the real base where the Doolittle Raiders trained), along with using operational USAAF B-25C and -D bombers which closely resembled the B-25B Mitchells used in 1942, made for a very authentic, near-documentary feel. Auxiliary Field 4, Peel Field, was used for the short-distance take off practice scenes. [1] Although an aircraft carrier was not available due to wartime needs, a mix of realistic studio sets and original newsreel footage faithfully recreated the USS Hornet scenes. Principal photography took place between February and June 1944.[2]
Recognized as an inspirational patriotic film with propagandistic values, the New York Times critic Bosley Crowther in November 1944 summed up the universal verdict on the production, "our first sensational raid on Japan in April 1942 is told with magnificent integrity and dramatic eloquence ..."[3] Variety focused on the human elements, "... inspired casting ... the war becomes a highly personalized thing through the actions of these crew members."[4]
Critical acclaim followed Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and many reviewers considered it the finest aviation film of the period.[5] The film is now considered a "classic aviation and war film."[6] The actual Raiders considered it a worthy tribute. [7]
In the 1945 Academy Awards, the Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo team of A. Arnold Gillespie, Donald Jahraus and Warren Newcombe (photography) and Douglas Shearer (sound) won the Oscar for Best Special Effects. Robert Surtees, A.S.C. and Harold Rosson, A.S.C. were also nominated in the category of Black and White Cinematography.[8][9]
American Film Institute Lists
At a point in his career when he rarely made public appearances or commercials, actor Van Johnson did a 1970s commercial for Post Fortified Oat Flakes breakfast cereal on a set reminiscent of B-25s on an aircraft carrier flight deck, concluding with the line that the cereal would "take me to Tokyo – and back!" [10] Additionally, both Jefferson Airplane's second live album Thirty Seconds Over Winterland (1973) and experimental rock band Pere Ubu's 1975 debut single are named after the film.[11][12]
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