Produced in 1944 and starring Van Johnson as Ted Lawson, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo is a story of Doolittle's famous raid made in April 1942. The story told in this film is also true...Ted Lawson is the pilot of a B-25 bomber. The story begins as he and his men are shipped to Eglin Air base in Florida to train for an extremely secretive mission. Which includes learning how to take off with only 500 feet of runway... Ted's beloved wife follows him and we discover a blooming, solid relationship between the two. "Tell me honey, why are you so cute?" Ted asks multiple times. "So I could get such a good looking fellow..." Ellen always responds. This interchange is playful, but says much about them. Ellen is a wonderful military wife. She sends her man off with a smile, even while the tears lurk behind her eyelids. I very much appreciated this portrayal of an army wife. I also liked that the romance is between husband and wife. (There is enough kissing to cover the bases.) After a successful bombing run, things go haywire...the rest of the story covers the men's return to the United States...along the way, they meet with rainstorms: Injuries: And some very kind Chinese: Among the stars in this film are Robert Mitchum and Spencer Tracy as James Doolittle himself.
One gets the sense of actually being in the airplane during the flights...one can almost get motion sickness. Like many war movies of the era, it includes actual footage of the planes taking off, flying, and dropping their ordinance. There is no language and nothing objectionable--unless you really cannot stand kissing in movies. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo is a fine movie. I give it a 5-star.
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