Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

Features

• First B-25's in training for bombing mission over Japan, under General Jimmy Doolittle's command.Running Time: 138 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating:PG-13 Age:012569797116 UPC:012569797116 Manufacturer No:79711

Sales Rank: 6216
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Product Desc: Amazon.com
There is no more ringing title among World War II movies than Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, and the mission it celebrates was unquestionably historic: a 400-mile bombing raid to carry the war to Japan itself mere months after that nation's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Yet the film is less memorable than many WWII pictures with less exalted factual basis. At the time, critic James Agee eloquently defined both its virtues and limitations as "a big-studio, big-scale film, free of artistic pretension ... transformed by its not very imaginative but very dogged sincerity into something forceful, simple, and thoroughly sympathetic in spite of all its big-studio, big-scale habits." That remains true today, but perhaps the movie--and its unimpeachably noble, admirably life-sized characters--wouldn't seem so stuck in the amber of a bygone era if Mervyn LeRoy and company had pumped a little "artistic pretension" into it.

Spencer Tracy--as James H. Doolittle, architect of the raid--rates the most towering screen credit, and he's superb. But his role's an extended cameo; the emotional core of the film is B-25 pilot Ted Lawson (Van Johnson) and his wife, Ellen (the glowing Phyllis Thaxter). Lawson's bestselling memoir (with Bob Considine) of his training for the secret mission, his group's launching from the aircraft carrier Hornet, and his crash landing and protracted ordeal in China--where he lost a leg--has been faithfully served. The film is long on homely detail and all-American decency (including a remarkably outspoken regret over the unavoidability of civilian casualties) but achieves its greatest impact in the raid itself. That sequence, in addition to boasting Oscar-winning special effects, is mostly shot in riveting silence. --Richard T. Jameson

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Amazon.com
There is no more ringing title among World War II movies than Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, and the mission it celebrates was unquestionably historic: a 400-mile bombing raid to carry the war to Japan itself mere months after that nation's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Yet the film is less memorable than many WWII pictures with less exalted factual basis. At the time, critic James Agee eloquently defined both its virtues and limitations as "a big-studio, big-scale film, free of artistic pretension ... transformed by its not very imaginative but very dogged sincerity into something forceful, simple, and thoroughly sympathetic in spite of all its big-studio, big-scale habits." That remains true today, but perhaps the movie--and its unimpeachably noble, admirably life-sized characters--wouldn't seem so stuck in the amber of a bygone era if Mervyn LeRoy and company had pumped a little "artistic pretension" into it.

Spencer Tracy--as James H. Doolittle, architect of the raid--rates the most towering screen credit, and he's superb. But his role's an extended cameo; the emotional core of the film is B-25 pilot Ted Lawson (Van Johnson) and his wife, Ellen (the glowing Phyllis Thaxter). Lawson's bestselling memoir (with Bob Considine) of his training for the secret mission, his group's launching from the aircraft carrier Hornet, and his crash landing and protracted ordeal in China--where he lost a leg--has been faithfully served. The film is long on homely detail and all-American decency (including a remarkably outspoken regret over the unavoidability of civilian casualties) but achieves its greatest impact in the raid itself. That sequence, in addition to boasting Oscar-winning special effects, is mostly shot in riveting silence. --Richard T. Jameson

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo Netflix Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo - Disheartened by the attack on Pearl Harbor and a string of defeats, America badly needs a victory in the early days of World War II. To ... Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo is a 1944 MGM war film. It is based on the true story of the Doolittle Raid, America's first retaliatory air strike against Japan four ... Amazon.com: thirty seconds over tokyo (1944) Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) / Region Free DVD / Audio: English / Subtitle: English, Franch, Chinese / Actors: Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, Robert Mitchum, Robert ... Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) - IMDb Director: Mervyn LeRoy. Actors: Van Johnson: Ted Lawson Robert Walker: David Thatcher Tim Murdock: Dean Davenport Don DeFore: Charles McClure Herbert Gunn ... Doolittle Raid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lawson, Ted W. and Robert Considine, ed.Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. New York: Random House, Inc., 1943. Martin, Adrian R., and Larry W. Stephenson. Thirty Seconds over Tokyo Trailer and Cast - Yahoo! Movies Shortly after the bombing on Pearl Harbor, the American military began preparation for a retaliatory attack. The story of that mission is presented in THIRTY SECONDS ... Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) - Overview - TCM.com Overview of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, 1944, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, with Van Johnson, Robert Walker, Tim Murdock, at Turner Classic Movies Amazon.com: 30 Seconds Over Tokyo Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, Robert Mitchum and Mervyn Leroy (Amazon Instant Video) BARNES & NOBLE Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Ted W. Lawson ... A small-format, low-cost paperback -- usually 4 1/4" x 6 3/4" -- most often used for genres such as mystery, romance, and sci-fi, as well as bestsellers with broad ... Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) With Van Johnson, Robert Walker, Tim Murdock. In the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission ...