Fresh and Exciting

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Mervyn Leroy directed this true story set in WWII about the plan by Lt. Col. James Doolittle(played by Spencer Tracy) to launch 16 fully-loaded B-25s from an aircraft carrier into the heart of Japan, for a "hedge hopping" mission which will see a low-level bombing sweep, in order to take the Pacific war to them for a change, and also as a morale booster for an American public sick of defeats. The mission is told from the perspective of pilot Ted Lawson(played by Van Johnson) who misses his wife(played by Phyllis Thaxter) but must undertake this vital mission, even as he is shot down over China, and must make a perilous trek to safety. Long but engrossing film with good script and acting, and a detailed account of this important part of WWII history.

Intense, thoughtful movie, from start to finish. Although the righteousness of what the pilots are training for is never in doubt (and this is reinforced in the scenes with the Chinese villagers), this is by no means a "rah-rah," jingoistic flag-waver.The hard work, skill, sacrifice, and dedication of the pilots, both before and after the raid, is shown in great detail.On the big screen, the shots of the big B-25s whizzing by on the runway, and the flying scenes portrayed from the cockpits must have been dazzling.More important, however, are the groundbreaking themes explored in this film, which was both written and filmed during WW II --- Surely, no WW II movie had previously dared to broach such subjects as soldiers (pilots) having ambiguous or contrasting feelings about killing the enemy in wartime; acknowledging the presence of civilians working in enemy munitions plants; or, most daring, the issues faced by amputees as they returned home (fear of rejection by loved ones, fear of not being a whole man, fear of no longer measuring up or being useful).In addition, what I had initially considered to be a weakness in the film --- the googly-eyed romance between Van Johnson and his wife --- turned out to be a powerful plot device later in the film, as Van Johnson returns to these scenes in order to draw sustenance during intense, painful, dangerous times.Over all, quite a thoughtful, perceptive, forward-thinking movie !

THE PERIOD OF 1939-45, World War II, brought us a particularly narrowing influence on our film capital. True enough, all genres and types of movie continued to be made; coming from the major studios (MGM, Paramount, 20th Cedntury-Fox, Warner Brothers and RKO Radio),or from those less affluent (Columbia, Universal, Republic, Monogram). There were others, of course, all fitting in somewhere in the food chain's rankings of monetary accumulations.WHEN ONE CONSIDERS the grim situation of the time, with what we were facing the distinct possibility of having the world that we were used to being a thing of memory only. The free world faced threats from our enemy Axis Powers in the guise of Totalitarian government. The three headed venomous snake was the main item being offered by our enemy nations of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan. Just for good measure, we had the Totalitarianism offered by our staunch "Ally", and former partner to the Nazis in carving up Eastern Europe, Soviet Russia.IT WAS CLEARLY evident that this was serious business, truly a do or die situation. Without need of inspiration from our Government, most all Americans got in line to do their part in the War Effort; be it in the form of Active Duty in our Armed Forces, or by being the best employee possible in whatever part of our industrial complex that we were employed.THE OVERALL CONTENT of the movies produced during this time of admittedly pro war effort propaganda, really did not go as far as one might think in self aggrandizing story lines. In actuality, other than the atrocious treatment of American Citizens of Japanese descent on the Western United States, the War Years were relatively calm, cool and peaceful on the home front.AS FAR AS the subject of what were the best films of the period, we have many to choose from; all falling into some sub categories. We believe that some fine representations of various genres as: General Military, DESTINATION TOKYO, BATAAN, SAHARA; Serials: SPY SMASHER, DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY; Air Power: THE PURPLE HEART, GOD IS MY CO-PILOT; Animation: DER FUHER'S FACE, VICTORY THROUGH AIR POWER.IF WE WERE to be pressed to picking out one single title to be representative of the entire motion picture output of the World War II Years; we'd have to pick THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO (MGM, 1944). Of course, we immediately have many others come to mind; but alas, THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO is better or at least equal in all categories. Furthermore, it has one feature that no other picture possesses. Read on, where we will attempt to explain.TO START WITH, this film makes great use of a great number of actors; from the well known "star" type, to the less famous and even those yet to be "discovered." This is all well and good, even necessary; for the number of personnel in a military operation.THE MAIN CHARACTERS are, generally, portrayed by better known players; with Van Johnson and Spencer Tracy (as Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle) being the most obvious examples. But, as the old adage goes, "there are no small roles, just small people." This is much in evidence here; as guys like Louis Jean Heidt and Steve Brodie (among others) put their all into whatever dialog they had.THERE IS A real sense here that the totality of the picture is the important thing, rather than some individual performance, In that, we have what is perhaps the crux of what makes THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO the fine film it is.ADDED TO THAT is some spoken words by various characters that after all, it is not the Germans, Italians or Japanese peoples that we hate; but rather dictatorial political systems that reduces the dignity of a person down to that of a robotic-slave to these totalitarian systems.AS TO THE subject of sudden loss of loved ones and family, THIRTY SECONDS does not shy away from the subject; nor do they dwell on the individual tragedies. The same as what was the policy for Hollywood; they would be respectful, but brief in their treatment of such a loss.NOW JUST MULTIPLY each death by thousands and see what this could do to the morale of a people.

Made during the dark days of WWII, this movie is outstanding because it continued the whole purpose of the raid, that is, to boost American moral by striking back at Japan for the Pearl Harbor attack. It is ironic that Dalton Trumbo was one of the screenwriters. He was later blacklisted for his political views. Regardless of whether Trumbo was a victim or hero of the era when writers were being fired for their alleged Soviet sympathies, the facts of the raid were written in a patriotic and completely pro-war manner.The men who went on the raid were bono fide heros. And as a former USAF pilot, I appreciate their skill and courage for conducting a gutsy mission. However, in the hindsight of history, the raid was about as affective as V-1 and V-2 Nazi attacks on London, or the Iraq Scud attacks on Israel and Allied forces during the Gulf War, or more recent Hezbolla rocket attacks on Israel. The purpose behind all these efforts was an attempt to mold public opinion and moral.Trumbo was a propagandist of the highest caliber. Lt. Doolittle himself thought the raid was a military failure. All of the B-25 bombers were lost as well as a large number of the crews. No significant military damage was done. (As no really significant damage was caused by the Pearl Harbor attack which sunk obsolete battleships, but no carriers.) Moral during war is as important as guns. This movie and many others of its era had an important role to play in winning the war. Without similar efforts today, our country and its freedoms are at risk due to an ideology that thinks making war on civilians is a religiously just and proper means to an end. The Nazi and Fascist governments of Germany and Italy did not attack the US in 1941. However Roosevelt knew that he had to spend most of our resources fighting and defeating Nazi Germany first. We were already at war with Germany in the North Atlantic when Japan attacked us on Dec 7, 1941. Hollywood did not make movies pointing out that Roosevelt lied, or committed us to war without the consent of Congress. It did paint the enemy, which had embarked on a conquest of the world exactly for what it was. If Trumbo were alive today, I wonder what type of screenplay he would write about the current world war that is underway.