Destination Tokyo | |
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theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Delmer Daves |
Produced by |
Jerry Wald Jack L. Warner |
Written by |
Delmer Daves Steve Fisher Albert Maltz |
Starring |
Cary Grant John Garfield |
Narrated by | Lou Marcelle |
Music by |
Franz Waxman William Lava |
Cinematography | Bert Glennon |
Edited by |
Christian Nyby Vladimir Barjansky |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date
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Running time
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135 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Destination Tokyo is a 1943 submarine war film. It was directed by Delmer Daves and written by Daves, former submariner Steve Fisher and Albert Maltz, and stars Cary Grant and John Garfield with featured performances by Dane Clark, Robert Hutton and Warner Anderson. Production began on June 21, 1943 and continued through September 4, 1943, and the film premiered in Pittsburgh on December 15, 1943. It was released generally in the U.S. on December 31, 1943.
On Christmas Eve, the submarine USS Copperfin, under the command of Captain Cassidy (Cary Grant), departs San Francisco on a secret mission. At sea, Cassidy opens his sealed orders, which direct him to proceed first to the Aleutian Islands to pick up meteorologist Raymond (John Ridgely), then to Tokyo Bay to obtain vital weather intelligence for the upcoming Doolittle Raid.
Two Japanese planes attack; both are shot down, but one pilot manages to parachute into the water. When Mike (Tom Tully) goes to pick him up, he is stabbed to death. New recruit Tommy Adams (Robert Hutton) shoots the pilot, but because he was slow to react, Tommy blames himself for Mike's death and volunteers to defuse an unexploded bomb stuck under the deck. When Mike is buried at sea, Greek-American Tin Can (Dane Clark) does not attend the service, which angers the other men until he explains that every Allied death causes him great pain. Meanwhile, Raymond, who lived in Japan, discusses how the Japanese people were led into the war by the military faction.
As the submarine nears Tokyo Bay, the Copperfin has to somehow negotiate its way through protective minefields. When a Japanese ship enters the bay, Cassidy follows in its wake. That night, a small party goes ashore to make weather observations. Meanwhile, Tommy is diagnosed with appendicitis. Pills, the pharmacist, has to operate following instructions from a book, using improvised instruments. (There were actually a few emergency appendectomies performed in the course of wartime submarine patrols.)