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Thirty Seconds over Tokyo Overview:

Thirty Seconds over Tokyo (1944) was a War - Historical Film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sam Zimbalist.

Academy Awards 1944 --- Ceremony Number 17 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best CinematographyRobert Surtees, Harold RossonNominated
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Thirty Seconds over Tokyo BlogHub Articles:

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944): WWII Written by Dalton Trumbo

By 4 Star Film Fan on Nov 17, 2020 From 4 Star Films

“One-hundred and thirty-one days after December 7, 1941, a handful of young men, who had never dreamed of glory, struck the first blow at the heart of Japan. This is their true story we tell here.” It’s easy enough to lump Air Force and Destination Tokyo with this subsequent film ... Read full article

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

By Beatrice on Nov 12, 2014 From Flickers in Time

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo Directed by Mervyn LeRoy Written by Dalton Trumbo based on the book by Ted W. Lawson and Robert Consodine 1944/USA Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer First viewing/Netflix rental Lt. Bob Gray: You know I don’t hate Japs yet. It’s a funny thing. I don’t like them, but ... Read full article

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Thirty Seconds over Tokyo Quotes:

Lt. Bob Gray: [pensively] When I was a kid, I used to dream about going someplace on a ship. Well, here I am!
Lt. Ted Lawson: And out there is Japan. My mother had a Jap gardener once. He seemed like a nice little guy.
Lt. Bob Gray: You know I don't hate Japs yet. It's a funny thing. I don't like them, but I don't hate them.
Lt. Ted Lawson: I guess, I don't either. You get kind of mixed up.
Lt. Bob Gray: Yeah.
Lt. Ted Lawson: It's hard to figure, yet here we are.
Lt. Ted Lawson: Goodbye.
Young Dr. Chung: I have one sorrow, Lieutenant. that we did not have the medicine to ease your pain.
Lt. Ted Lawson: You saved my life, Doc.
Young Dr. Chung: I hope that someday you'll come back to us.
Lt. Ted Lawson: We'll be back. Maybe not us ourselves but a lotta guys like us, and I'd like to be with them. You're our kind of people.
Young Dr. Chung: Thank you, sir.
Lieutenant Jacob 'Shorty' Manch: Well feed me corn and watch me grow! How did all this scum get in here?
Ellen Lawson: Oh, Ted, I'm going to write you a letter every day you're gone. I know they won't deliver them. I won't even mail them, but I'm going to write them anyway. That way we'll kind of be in touch. That way we'll feel close.
[repeated lines]
Lt. Ted Lawson: Tell me, Honey, how come you're so cute?
Ellen Lawson: I had to be if I was going to get such a good-looking fella.
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Thirty Seconds over Tokyo Facts
When Lawson's plane arrives in "Tokyo" and sees the fire and smoke from the previous bomber, Davy Jones, we are not looking at a special effect. During the making of the film, there was a fuel-oil fire in Oakland, near the filming location. The quick-thinking filmmakers scrambled to fly their camera plane and B-25 through the area, capturing some very real footage for the movie.
Twice while the Ruptured Duck is flying over Japan the crew spots Japanese fighter planes and tenses for an attack, but both times the fighters ignore them. This is factual. In an unbelievable coincidence, the Japanese had planned a major air raid drill for the same time in Tokyo, and the fighters thought the American B-25s were part of the drill until the bombs started exploding. Also, according to the book upon which the movie is based the planes' crews were told prior to the mission that there was a slight chance that the Japanese would not recognize them and react because the Japanese air force had a bomber very similar to the B-25.
Debut of John Dehner.
Actual footage of the B-25 Mitchell bombers taking off from the U.S.S. Hornet was used in the film.
According to the documentary Going Hollywood: The War Years, for this movie, the MGM studio recreated the section of an air craft carrier flat top on a sound stage large enough to fit four genuine B25 bomber planes whilst a whole sixty foot miniature was also built, placed in the studio tank doubling as the ocean. Moreover, this special effects Academy Award winning movie utilized model planes, hydraulic jacks, wires, motors, pulleys, and a miniature model of Tokyo used to show the bombing of that city with mini explosions.
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