Coming in at an incredible 138 minutes, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo is one long haul of a World War II propaganda film. The film tells the story of the famous Doolittle Raid which occurred 4 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The raid was a morale booster for the United States and sent a message to the Japanese that everybody was in this war for the long haul.
In MGM's version of the raid Van Johnson is the all American white guy along with Robert Walker as the hick from Montana. They clearly stand in for what the military had in mind as examples of American servicemen who are just like you and me and are ready to get the job done. Spencer Tracy portrays Colonel Doolittle and he has a few scenes but he basically steals the show from the other actors with his commanding performance.
The length of the film is probably due to all the time spent on Van Johnson's love life with the actress Phyllis Thaxter the stand in for American womanhood in this case. We are frequently told how cute Thaxter is but I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder to be charitable.
The most entertaining aspects of the film are unsurprising the training and actual raid over Tokyo which takes over most of the 2nd half of the film. Here MGM's technicians and special effects crew really shine with some excellent special effects. It looks like the B-25's actually blew up most of Tokyo unlike real life where the actual raid did very little damage to Tokyo.
The film was filmed by uninspired but competent director Mervyn Leroy. Comparing this film to Howard Hawk's Air Force shows the difference between competent and excellent film making. Air Force was propaganda as well but it was extremely well made and engaging. This film is interesting but be prepared for a lot of boring lovey dovey stuff between Van Johnson and Phyllis Thaxter.
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