Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Movie clip Wednesday: Best film of the 1940s

Good morning it's Wednesday and we all know what that means, time to dig into our collective psyches and post a clip to amuse and entertain. It's our weekly installment of Movie Clip Wednesday, hosted by Milk River Madman If you wish to play. Post a clip on your site. Try to make it 3 minutes or less, then stop by MRM's site say I'm up, with the title of your movie. You can also see who else is playing. And find some very interesting and differing perspectives on a single topic. The topic for this week: Best movie from the 1940s. Another week spent watching way too many clips. So many good movies were produced in the forties. This week I chose: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. I chose it for two reasons, 1. That World War 2 dominated everything during the forties. 2. I recently read the obituary of Colonel Bill Bower, he passed away on January 10 at the age of 93. He was the last surviving pilot involved in the Doolittle raid. The movie is a 1944 war film. It is based on the true story of America's first retaliatory air strike against Japan four months after the December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The first clip is the trailer. The second clip shows the takeoff from the USS Hornet much of the footage was from the actual takeoff of the mission. And the third is of the bomb run. The last 2 clips are quite long the first 4 minutes of the second and the first 3 minutes of the third give you the just of it. Please enjoy! 


17 comments:

Jenny said...

I'm a big Van Johnson fan, but mostly know him as a song and dance man from the movies I've watched. Nice to see him get a dramatic role and I bet Buzz will be happy you found a war movie. I agree the war did dominate the movies, even before 1942. Casablanca is one that comes to mind.

I've never seen this, but my Father was stationed in Tokyo after the war and this is an interesting piece of war history.

Happy MCW!

Anonymous said...

I should see this. I've read about the raid, I think. Did they take off from China with a skeletonized heavy bomber?

Karl said...

Boxer: Van Johnson was quite a talent he had a long career with a pretty even mix of dancing singing and drama.

Reading through the write up on Doolittle's raid was very interesting I had no idea that the Japanese persecuted so many Chinese for helping the Americans. Funny how things have turned around.

Karl said...

Troll: No, they landed in China.(Crash landed mostly) They took off from the USS Hornet. They had stripped the planes down to bare essentials.

I know you don't care for Wikipeadia, but there right up seems to be pretty good on this one. The link is in the narrative.

Heff said...

I saw "30 Seconds In Gianna", but that was an entirely different kind of film.

Karl said...

Heff: Yes, I bet it was.

Buzz Kill said...

You know, I was looking for some war flicks but most of the better ones were made in the 50s. Van Johnson made a lot of war pictures. I particularly liked him in this movie and the Caine Mutiny. I looked him up and he only passed away a couple of years ago at 92. He was 28 when he made this movie.

I particularly like all of the B-25 scenes and the actual take off from Hornet. There were no catapults back then and the pilots were never quite sure if they had enough wind under their wings to take off. Made doubley dangerous with the B-25s that were not designed for carriers and the factthat this stunt had never been tried before. The pilots that did this had some brass ones.

Happy MCW!

Milk River Madman said...

Karl,
Great clips! The actual take offs were awesome especially the last one where you see the plane go below the fligt deck and then pull up. We all consider ourselves men. We would defend our family at all costs but these guys had BALLS THAT CLANK.

Happy MCW.

Pam said...

Sorry I didn't make it by earlier ... but happy MCW to you! This makes me think about all our WWII veterans and how their numbers are dwindling. I know movies like this are a bit of propaganda for "our" side ... but I love how things were presented - a noble calling, the greater good, that kind of thing.

chickory said...

LOL @ MRM!

Never have seen this, but the quality of it is like old newsreels. I dont know anything about this raid, and that kind of embarrasses me.

happy MCW Karl!

Karl said...

Buzz Kill: The takeoff scenes were the best part, if you take a look at this clip you can see what the takeoffs looked like from another ship, it also shows how tight the flight deck was and how much the Hornet was pitching and rolling as she drove into the waves to increase the wind speed over her deck. Brass ones indeed.

MRM: That last takeoff you saw they dipped down so low was because they forgot to deploy their flaps. The mistake could have cost them the aircraft and their lives. The filmmaker put it into the story line because they had the real footage of the takeoff without flaps. If you watch the footage again you can see the the flaps are not deployed. While the takeoffs were pretty hairy, the landings were really the hard part.

Pam: Yes, they are dwindling, of the 80 men on this mission, only 5 remain. Soon there will be only memories of this heroic generation.

Chickory: It was really a propaganda stunt with very little military value. But it achieve the desired effect in that it boosted the morale of the American people.

Nice to see you getting around. Hope your mom's doing better.

yellowdoggranny said...

oh man..brings back so many memories..had to watch all these movies with my daddy..would never admit to it, but I really enjoyed them.

Karl said...

Jackie Sue: Bet your dad would have busted a vest button or 2, if he knew that you liked to watch them with him. I know I would.

moi said...

Just dropping by to wish you and Mrs. Karl a Happy Mrs. Karl birthday! I hope you all cut a rug and eat something delicious. Oh, and your package is on its way.

Karl said...

Moi: Thank you on both accounts! The place we're going puts on a wonderful spread. From omelets to fish tacos and bottomless mimosa glass, it's a lot of fun.

Enjoy your weekend!

chickory said...

happy birthday to missus karl!

Karl said...

Chickory: I'm sorry, I missed your comment. Thank you, she had a fine time.

I, we have been thinking about you and hope that everything was going is best as it can be for you in this troubled time.