Product Details

• Actors: Cary Grant, John Garfield, Alan Hale, John Ridgely, Dane Clark
• Directors: Delmer Daves
• Writers: Delmer Daves, Albert Maltz, Steve Fisher
• Producers: Jack L. Warner, Jerry Wald
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English, Japanese
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: May 19, 1998
• Run Time: 135 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301967593
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #208,803 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The offbeat casting of Cary Grant as a submarine captain pays off in this tense WWII underwater picture; he ably trades in his sophistication for the sweaty close quarters of an action movie. The mission? Infiltrate the mined harbor of Tokyo itself, a feat bookended by a brief confrontation in the Aleutians and a depth-charge chase through the open sea. Skipper Grant is supported by the usual stock crew of Navy melting-pot types, with John Garfield drawing duty as the resident dame-crazy fantasist. (Somebody forgot to put the saltpeter in his chow, apparently.) The solid action alternates with dialogue that tends toward the schmaltzy or jingoistic (the movie's become somewhat notorious for its unusually nasty propagandistic jabs at the Japanese enemy). Destination Tokyo was the directing debut of Delmer Daves, who would later excel in smart Westerns such as 3:10 to Yuma. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb submarine thriller, June 17, 2001

By 

John V. Seward - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Destination Tokyo [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exellent, all around, July 27, 2000

By 

Steve Herr (Jackson, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Destination Tokyo [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars We can win if we can take it., January 30, 2007

By 

Steven Hellerstedt "SH" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Destination Tokyo (DVD)

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.