Customer Reviews

Destination Tokyo

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Cary Grant gives a creditable performance as the Captain of the USS Copperfin, a submarine sent to Tokyo Bay, in order to gather information for the coming Doolittle Raid. Aided by a superb cast,including the inimitable John Garfield as a skirt-chasing torpedoman, Dane Clark, who portrays an embittered sailor with a grudge against the Axis powers, and the always rock solid Alan Hale as "Cookie" the loveable, big bear of a mess cook. This movie does have a bit of a propagandist speech, which most movies of the genre in the 40's did. The fact-based appendectomy lends a sense of added drama to the story. This rates as one of the best submarine films ever done.

I first saw this movie in the galley of the U.S.S. Silversides - the very submarine whose exploits the movie chronicles (the name was changed to "Copperfins" for the movie.) The story is well-written, and (mostly) true. The lone crewman who was ever killed was not knifed by a rescued Japanese pilot, but they did perform an appendectomy in the galley. Sure, it's an American wartime rah-rah, stir up people's patriotism effort, but it's still fine entertainment with just the right touch of humor. A must-see.

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.

Thankfully, this movie has NOT been colorized as mentioned in the format. It is presented in glorious black & white ... AS IT SHOULD BE !!!

Today is June 7th ... Let's see how long it takes Amazon to fix the description after receiving notification.

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.

Delmer Davies's Destination Tokyo is very enjoyable WWII submarine action drama about a covert naval operation to scope out information for the aerial bombing of a primary Japanese naval yard. Starring a very charming Cary Grant as the sympathetic commanding officer and John Garfield as the girl obsessing crewman. Destination is very realistic in its depiction of submarine life and very watchable fifty-six years after its release. Though brimming with out-dated and silly comic relief, the contrived humor just adds to its considerable charm as a very watchable and dramatically engaging war film.A real gem of movie, Destination also has one of Grant's most unappreciated roles. Any fan of old war movies and Cary Grant can't go wrong buying this one.

Given the state of special effects at the time, the model work is excellent. Real Navy feel for the submarine patrols in the diesel boats. Good script,with a touch of the authentic. The ensemble cast of Grant,Hutton, Garfield, and so many other Warner faces from the thirties in this 40 flic is hard to find anyplace else. Grant lets other cast get in some closeup time,graceful actor. I want to add one note to a previous comment about Run Silent Run Deep, that was not John Wayne movie, but rather Clark Gable. And, I recall,Burt Lancaster. No matter. I hope this one gets resurrected on DVD, as They Were Expendable did. I like the line where Grant says "this boat has taken enough",surfaces and blows hell out of the Japanese tin can that has been pursuing them. Great fun.

Way. Unlike a lot of pretty movie stars, Grant had talent & could play anything believeably. Proof here. He is Capt. Cassidy of the USS Copperfin. It can be forgiven its jingoistic, propaganda tone (hey, there's a war going on!) because it is a very good movie. It was done in the Warner Bros. trademark style: efficient with no wasted effort. It has the added virtue of being done mid-war, 1943, like its competiton from Century Fox, Crash Dive. It is slightly better without that silly Tyrone Power romance nonsense. It has the stock character actors most notably Alan Hale as Cookie. I love that guy! Also just like a Warner Bros. film, it was shot in glorious black & white which is the way I prefered it, thank-you. Great war-time stuff.

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.

Please note I saw this on TV so I can't comment on the quality of the video transfer.

There's something about sub movies, and I've tried to see all the ones I could ever since I saw Run Silent, Run Deep as a boy. This is one of the better ones. There's a good bit of dated propaganda in it, but that was expected during the war. The story is varied enough so that quite a lot transpires before the sub even makes it to Tokyo harbor to complete its mission. The scenes showing how the sub gets in a out of the sub nets to the harbor are well done, although you can tell these are model subs in large pools much of the time. Still, some of these "model" subs were forty or so feet long and looked very realistic--I know--I've seen one of them up close on several occasions.

Cary Grant, playing against type here as a military officer, does a creditable job in his role. John Garfield (The Postman Always Rings Twice) is also good as the lovelorn romeo who probably needed more saltpeter in his food. :-) The sub movies I've seen over years are Run Silent, Run Deep, with Cary Grant and Burt Lancaster, The Enemy Below, with Robert Mitchum and Kurt Jurgens, Torpedo Alley with Glen Ford, Das Boot, and this one. I'd rate it in the middle of the sub pack here, not as good as the great Run Silent, Run Deep, but a solid four stars.