mryerson All right, I'll admit it, this one makes me weepy every time I see it. Over-the-top MGM production values, first rate score, solid players and a literate script based on a thrilling true story and, voila', wartime cornpone at its best. The problems derive primarily from the cardboard characters, staunchly middle American archetypes generously contrasted against one-dimensional foreign stereotypes, the idealized missionary couple, the Chinese doctors, the Chinese civilians and guerrilla soldiers and the largely unseen Japanese. The facts of Doolittle's raid are well known, a daring, perhaps even foolhardy, attack on the Japanese homeland very, very soon after Pearl Harbor as a demonstration that they were, in fact, vulnerable and we could bring the fight to their shores. It is unlikely the bombing had any real effect on Japanese industrial capacity but at home, as a morale booster, it was a great success, the air crews and everyone associated with the raid rightfully hailed as heroes. But I suspect the real story is somewhat grittier than portrayed here. Van Johnson's Ted Lawson comes across as apple pie ala mode with nary a discouraging word, Spencer Tracy breezes through his unchallenging turn as Doolittle with little to do beyond stern and resolute and Robert Mitchum hits just the right note as a buddy pilot. Don DeFore supplies the comic relief which, of course earns him a painful fate on a China beach (he's lucky they didn't kill him off) and Robert Walker lards on the golly-gee-whiz. Phyllis Thaxter's performance as Ellen Lawson bears a warning: avert your eyes if you are susceptible to sugar diabetes. Rarely has the syrup run so thick. Still an enjoyable two and a half hours if you don't ask too much of it. Nary a shirker, nor a coward, nor a cynic to be found. If only war were this simple.

pgreis This represents one of the best WWII aviation movies. Follows the crew of Doolittle's Raiders who gave the US a boost in the early dark days of WWII. Well acted, excellent cinematography (Oscar nomination). Lots of great shots of B-25s for aviation buffs. The early days of training are especially interesting as the crews try and get their aircraft off the ground in a very short distance. At that point none of them realized they would ultimately have to take their B-25s off the deck of an aircraft carrier. Based on Ted Lawson's (played by Van Johnson) autobiographical accounting of the raid in the book of the same name. Excellent acting by Van Johnson and Spencer Tracy as General Doolittle.

denscul 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.

Felicia I was in college and my instructor was giving a lecture on WWII.We dabbled in classroom discussion about the famous Doolttle Raid. I was aware of the raid but I wanted to know more. He suggested the book Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. The book was so compelling, I believe I read it in two days. As you can see I first read the book before I even knew the movie existed.I actually caught the movie on TV accidentally.I was just browsing the Scedule then I noticed the title. This was pretty cool because I read the book only a few weeks before; I had actually thought "too bad they never made a movie". You can never compare a book to a movie, but this movie left you with the same riveting feeling as the book. This is an excellent WWII history.The movie is a classic and is still one of my favorite WWII movies. I absolutely loved this movie.