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Regular
Price $14.98
Starring:
Cary Grant,
John Garfield,
Alan Hale,
John Ridgely,
Dane Clark,
Directed By:
Delmer Daves,
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Release Date: 1943-12-31
Studio: Warner Home Video
Format:
Closed-captioned,
Black & White,
DVD-Video,
Subtitled,
NTSC,
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Customer Reviews for
Destination Tokyo
Good Film Even if a Little Dated
Cary Grant was highly underrated as an actor in his dramatic and especially comedic roles. In his role as a WW2 submarine commander, he does not disappoint. The film works very well with his able and steady hand at the periscope. Their mission is to infiltrate Tokyo Harbor to get important meteorological information. Their journey has the travails suffered by sub crews - air attacks, medical emergencies and other near misses.
Remember: This is a war film made to encourage Americans in a still desperate fight against Japanese fascism. The scales have not yet tilted in America and democracy's favor. So yes, there are jabs at the Japanese as the enemy but that makes this film not just realistic but an authentic piece of recorded history for the temperament of these times.
Destination Tokyo
A multi-dimensional WWII movie.
I just finished rewatching this great war movie in honor of the anniversary of General Doolittle's 1942 raid on Tokyo. After watching, I'm in awe of all that's going on in this movie. The special effects are top notch for a movie made during war time---seeing the sub going through authentic looking Japanese mine fields was nail biting. Cary Grant is very effective as the captain with a great supporting cast---I sure did underrate John Garfield--he was one heck of an actor. This does not have lots of action--instead, it focuses on the trails & tribulations of the crew & their living environment under extremely harsh conditions while trying to complete their mission. It's a compliment to the director that the focus is not always on the star--Mr. Grant--but instead the main focus is on the mission & we also get to know a little bit about many a crew member. Give this flick a view---I guarantee you'll sit through this strapped into your seat. I salute our Silent Service.Destination Tokyo
Destination Tokyo
Notwithstanding some explicit anti-Japanese sentiment, crew rough-housing and longings for home that feel a touch sappy in today's unsentimental world, "Destination" stands as a first-rate propaganda picture, released at a time when we needed it most. Grant is fabulous playing against his usual well-tailored image in a modern war movie, one of his few. His Cassidy is steady but human--a born leader. His crew is also tops, with young star-to-be John Garfield a stand-out as a female-crazed sailor aptly dubbed "Wolf." And the movie only improves the closer we get to Japan, and to the outcome of the sub's delicate and dangerous assignment.Destination Tokyo
Had To Return
I was rather disappointed because this DVD would not play on my DVD player. The way it was recorded could not be read. I am searching for this movie recorded by another source.Destination Tokyo
We can win if we can take it.
Unless you were around and aware of things in 1943 - I wasn't - watching DESTINATION: TOKYO is going to be a bit like taking a trip to a foreign country. It's a war flick made at the mid-point of America's involvement in World War Two. Like a lot of in-war (1941-1945) Hollywood war movies it takes place in the Pacific theater. America is planning a bombing raid on the Japanese mainland, and they need to land a meteorologist on the outskirts of Tokyo - into the heart of Enemyland, in other words - to take weather readings, gather information on shore installations, etc. The submarine USS Copperfin, commanded by Cary Grant, is ordered to transport the meteorologist to Tokyo and, hopefully, bring him back alive.
Hollywood movies made while the war was raging, and still in doubt, provided information, inspiration, and a more or less accurate reflection of the national spirit. If not complete feel-good movies - the war wasn't going that good for the Allieds in 1943 - they generally reflected a gritty determination to get the job done and, all too often, depicted heroism in defeat. There's a reason these movies are packed with clichéd characters - the fast-talking kid from the big city, the slow-talking kid from the small town in Iowa, or Wisconsin, or Montana, the wise old vet who just wanted to get home to his wife and kids and easy chair. Those were the men who were Over There, the sons and uncles, brothers and fathers of the audience. John Garfield plays the fast-talker in DESTINATION: TOKYO, appropriately named Wolf, who has a swell dish in every port and a long, elaborate, and filmable story about each (plenty of flashback action in this one.) Alan Hale plays `Cookie,' the gruff mess cook who has a soft side he shows when it's most needed. William Prince is the agnostic pharmacy attendant named `Pills' who finds his doubts about the existence of a higher being evaporating when a higher power is most needed. Unlike later war movies, the characters can be abrasive at times, but none are pushed to the margins.
So, if a movie like DESTINATION: TOKYO wants to fill its roster with generally likeable characters and spend a slightly mawkish Christmas with them - the Copperfin sets sail on December 24th, and most of the first act is spent trailing on-board carolers and partaking in a makeshift Christmas party - more power to it. It slows down the action, but it gives the major players a chance to introduce themselves, and it's so sentimentally treated it probably boosted the morale of the stateside audience. The weirdest aspect of this picture is listening to the men discuss the `Japanese character.' It'd take a couple of decades for Americans to become enamored with the Way of the Warrior. As best I can make it out, we were in that war because the 8-year-old Japanese child was dis- and re-assembling machine guns blindfolded while the 8-year-old American child was getting a pair of roller skates on their birthday. If you can wade through the shallow social science and the casual racism in these explanatory scenes there's a message of real value, which can be distilled down to "The enemy isn't inherently bad, but their culture is." Yeah, I know, that kind of talk can lead to bad results, but in 1943 it was progressive (the enemy weren't subhuman animals after all) and oddly optimistic (let's talk about peaceful co-existence with the up-to-now invincible enemy we're destined to beat the stuffing out of.)
Don't get me wrong, though. DESTINATION: TOKYO is a still-exciting action movie with minimal philosophizing - the social science stuff caught my ear because I watch too many of these kind of movies. Cary Grant is now-to-earth and sincere as the ship captain, and the underwater scenes hold up well. Strong recommendation.
Destination Tokyo
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