Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) The legendary “Doolittle Raid” on Japan gets its moment on the big screen.  A group of volunteer bomber crews launches land-based airplanes from an aircraft carrier to strike back just months after Pearl Harbor.

Directed by  Mervyn LeRoy                            Starring Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government was looking for something to raise American morale.  A suggestion to attack the home islands of Japan with bombers flying off aircraft carriers was accepted as a solution.  The problem was that bombers required much longer takeoff distance than any naval vessel could provide.  Army Air Corps Lieutenant Colonel James “Jimmy” Doolittle (played here by Spencer Tracy) believed in the concept and worked to overcome the obstacles.  The B-25 bomber was chosen and the technical difficulties were overcome.  Doolittle led the raid himself.  While relatively little physical damage was done, the impact on the Japanese mindset was enormous.  The crews would all earn the Distinguished Flying Cross (the vast majority of them survived and returned as heroes) while Doolittle was given the Congressional Medal of Honor and promoted to Brigadier General.

I read the book on which the movie is based many times as a youngster.  It was and remains an astounding story of daring and ingenuity.  With that love of the subject as a start, I approached the movie with certain reservations.  What kind of liberties would be taken?  How would the storytelling hold up decades later?  As it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised.  The movie was made just a couple years after the raid, so the details were well known to the audience.  The story, which uses the names of the actual crew members, stays very true to the history.  While clearly intended to have propaganda value, to keep national morale high.  The Marines had spent the year island hopping in the Pacific, the landings at Normandy had put Allied troops back in France, but there was still a year to go before the war would end.

What emerged was a movie that remains engrossing decades later.  There is a seemingly obligatory romance sub-plot that is a little eye-rolling these days, but other than the flying scenes are wonderful.  The facts of the story are so fantastic (the Japanese failed to realize it was an actual attack despite repeated sightings of both the ships and planes until after the bombs began to fall) that it gives a real edge to whether or not they will succeed.  There is even documentary footage of the actual takeoffs from the USS Hornet.  All of it combines to give much more of an “edge of the seat” feel to the action.

One other thing stood out for me. The screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, makes a very clear statement about stepping away from racism or hatred of the enemy.  It’s war and you do what needs to be done.  I was impressed that they intentionally sidestepped any level of jingoism here.

Why You Will Like It: An exciting telling of a piece of American history that needs to be remembered.

Rating – **** Recommended