1943 - DESTINATION TOKYO, 40's war film is way too long

During World War II a U.S. navy submarine improbably sneaks into Tokyo Bay to radio information back to the Doolittle raid pilots for the first raid on Tokyo.

This is a war film that is over two hours long and is full of propaganda and talk, lots of talk.  Cary Grant is probably the handsomest submarine captain in the history of the Silent Service and the crew is the usual cross section of good old American stereotypes.  In other words this is a typical 40's propaganda piece with not one cliche left unused.

The film was written and directed by first time director Delmar Daves, who went on to have a good career directing westerns however Destination Tokyo is not a western.

Warner Brothers must have been pretty high on the script.  Cary Grant was one of the few freelance actors in Hollywood during the 40's so there was nothing cheap about his salary.  The film has high production values although the submarine sets are so big it looks like the crew is on some sort of underwater Carnival Cruise liner.

On the plus side, the sea battles are pretty decent, with cool models and miniatures zipping around in a studio tank.  Cary Grant gives a good restrained performance although he's still Cary Grant in a sailor suit. 

Still the propaganda aspects of the story and the long running time make Destination Tokyo mighty slow going.

135 minutes.