Tora! Tora! Tora! [1970] [DVD]

This is still one of the best and most impressive American war films ever made, presenting an honest, balanced and historically faithful depiction of the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the USA into the war. It fares quite well on today's large-size digital TV screens; I originally saw it in the cinema and – as you'd expect - it was pretty spectacular, with breathtaking flying sequences which still retain their thrill even on the reduced scale. A long film (cinemas had an intermission in the middle) it has quite a preamble before the real action starts; unusually for Hollywood it takes a rather documentary-styled approach which helps concentrate the storyline on what matters rather than some romantic interest or character development; indeed, at the time mainly less well-known actors were cast to retain an ensemble feel to the film and avoid any fixation on stars. It is also historically balanced, giving a lot of time to the Japanese side of the events; the evocative carrier take-off scenes at dawn are some of the most memorable and visually striking aerial footage outside of authentic wartime archives. A great deal of consideration was also given to the authenticity of the production with carefully modified aircraft and clever mock-ups standing in for the types used in the period. It certainly still outclasses Michael Bay`s behemoth “Pearl Harbor” (2001) which seems outrageously hokey next to this, despite all it`s CGI special effects. A very fine movie that has aged well and still engrosses as a viewing experience. The standard DVD release is as listed above in the product description and it delivered a sharp and satisfactory picture on my own TV.

The movie is in two parts. The first part is a reprise of the build-up leading to the infamous day when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. This charts ambivalence and incompetence on the part of certain America middle order officers and top brass who short-changed their countrymen. The prequel to the Japanese invasion indicates how the Japanese were led by their army who must have held idiocy as part of the qualification for promotion. Imagine Japan in 1941 thinking that they could invade the USA. The logistics were gargantuan and thinking otherwise indicates that the Japanese high command were led by similar incompetence to that of Nazi Germany. The second part of the movie is all about the bombing, full of action and some impressive film footage that indicates the sheer terror of the attack. Considering when this movie was made the quality of the DVD was very good as was the acting from an ensemble cast consisting of the stars of the day both American and Japanese. I must admit that one has to admire how the USA pulled itself together after such an attack and organised their resources to counter the Japanese aggression. Thereafter the horror of the Pacific War ensued. The whole affair made me very unhappy thinking about the waste of so many decent people on all sides. I give the movie 5 out of 5 as it does not thump the chauvinist barrel, but reports the facts plain and simply in a manner which communicates a considerable amount of history in a single movie. Highly recommended to anyone wishing to gain more history about the origins of the American war with Japan and what bought them into WW2.

This movie was produced as a joint Japanese-American venture. The acting by both casts is excellent, and the Japanese dialogue which takes up much of the action is well translated in the sub-titles, which are not so obtrusive as to interfere with the action. Filming is excellent, and the main irony of the history of Pearl Harbor, that not only was the US officially notified by the Japanese after the attack had commenced but that the US intelligence itself was not communicated to those in power, comes over clearly. This movie has generally been underrated: I give it full marks.

Great historical move can be long but if you like history you will like this"Better than the modern move PERL HARBOAR" more tension and a lot less of that love girl stuff ?. It show how the americans went about the war and how they bet the japanes by just being in the wrtie place at the write time, all of this based on the fragments of information they had collected, from cracking japanes radio and telegraph code, JUST GREAT. Dont site down to watch this with the wife or girl friend she will be board to death.

These words are spoken by Adm Yamamoto at the end of the film whne he has learned that that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that he planned was even more successful than they had hoped in their wildest dreams...and yet the American aircraft carriers were not there. Thus, this film which shows the planning and execution of the attack, ends on a note of simultaneous Japanese exaltation and foreboding about the future. This film is a must for anyone who cares to be an informed citizen. It not only about the past, but also about the present (for example 9/11): what a bold thinking group of men can accomplish if they put their minds to it, the complex relations between the United States, Japan and their neighbors like China and Korea, national arrogance and overconfidence ("it can't happen here"), looking for scapegoats after a disaster, and much more. From the cinematic viewpoint, the battle scenes are just breathtaking, especially the attack on Hickam Field were we see aircraft blowing up right and left and the air battles where two incredibly brave American fighter pilots take on the whole air fleet that carried out the attack returning to their aircraft carriers. I also love the scene where we see the Japanese strike force taking off from their carriers just as dawn is breaking. E G Marshall puts in a fine performance as Col Rufus Bratton, an American intelligence officer who is convinced that the Japanese are going to attack, as he is trying to awaken the military establishment in Washington to the danger. Also Jason Robards does a good job as the hapless General Walter Short who is in charge of defending Hawaii from naval and air attack (Robards was actually at Pearl Harbor during the attack so I am sure he had no trouble "getting into" the part!). Having real Japanese actors speaking Japanese (unlike the movie "Midway") gives the film a real feel of authenticity. Having said these good things about the film, I would like to point out a few weaknesses (1) I can't understand why the American naval personnel are always shown wearing their white dress uniforms-it makes them look silly, (2) this film was made in 1970 when the US was bending over backwards to be nice to Japan because of the Cold War and the unpopularity of the presence of the American military bases in Japan resulting from the American war in Vietnam. As a result, they repeated the line which was propagated at the time, saying that the Japanese intended to present a declaration of war before the attack commenced (the typists supposedly worked too slowly and so it was finally presented to Secretary of State Cordell Hull AFTER the attack). In reality, the infamous "14-part message" Ambassadors Namura and Kurusu were supposed to deliver was NOT a declaration of war at all, but simply an announcement that the Japanese were breaking off negotiations. Also, the film claims that Emperor Hirohito was personally opposed to going to war with the US, but being a "prisoner" of the cabinet, had no choice but to go along with them. It is now widely believed by historians that the Emperor was, in fact, a strong supporter of Japanese aggression. Also, there is some evidence that he was personally involved in war crimes. However, all this was hushed up after the war in order to make the American occupation of Japan run smoothly, and this film simply continues this line. One important point to keep in mind is that, although FDR did want to get the US into the war with Germany, he most certainly did NOT want to get into war with Japan if he could help it. A war in the Pacific would only divert resources away from the European Theater of Operations, which he viewed as most important. This conclusively disproves the conspiracy theories that claim the FDR deliberately left Pearl Harbor undefended in order to shock the American people into going to war. In spite of these criticisms, I still rate the film as 5-stars.

Received this dvd just before Christmas. This is an older version of The Pearl Harbor story and is told more from the Japanese view point. The latter Pearl Harbor is still good, but is more of a love story as well. Both movies are very good though, with plenty of action in both.

I have purchased a collection of Great War movies recently and this is a great addition. Great service thanks

I've watched this film several times and still find it watchable. It is one of the best historical recreations of war that I have seen. One excellent feature is it shows things from both sides the Japanese as well as the USA. It shows the Japanese as divided and Yamato as being forced into a situation where he has to plan for a war he does not wish to fight. It also shows the shortcomings within the American military and that despite having broken the Japanese code and having warning of an impending attack they failed to adequately prepare. Bearing in mind that the film was made in 1970 it still bears up well against the later and in my opinion atrociously bad 'Pearl Harbour'. The film gives in my view a balanced view showing both sides of the conflict.