Great WW2 movie, the true story of the Doolittle Raid. Very realistic action. Very helpful that it was filmed in WW2, as they still had all the right planes and equipment around! Gritty, sticks pretty well to history, and doesn't overdo the patriotic, jingoistic angle.Good performances, especially from Van Johnson. Spencer Tracey is great as Lt Col Doolittle. Also features Robert Mitchum in an early role of his.Only negative is that it didn't know when to end. The raid should have been the end-point, but it continued with one crew's adventures after that. Though relevant, the adventure was too long-winded.Great movie on a great moment in history.

THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO has men training for a dangerous mission, led by Col. Doolittle (Spencer Tracy) who leads them into an adventure that begins with fully loaded bombers making their ascent into the wild blue yonder aboard Naval aircraft carriers. The cooperative team efforts between the Navy and the Air Force is demonstrated throughout and the result is a film that looks almost documentary in its approach to the subject matter.But you have to get beyond some sentimental interludes for romance and that's where the story weakens somewhat, despite the sincerity of the moments depicted between VAN JOHNSON (as Lt. Dawson) and his loving wife (PHYLLIS THAXTER). Nevertheless, by the time the story reaches its powerful conclusion, you'll be rooting for the reunion of the husband (a wounded war hero who has lost one leg) and his wife who is expecting a baby.Sterling performances help put the movie over. Never for a moment is the acting less than exceptional--and that includes VAN JOHNSON in the leading role, ably supported by SPENCER TRACY, ROBERT WALKER, ROBERT MITCHUM, DON DeFORE, SCOTT McKAY, STEPHEN McNALLY (billed as Horace McNally) and, in an unbilled small role, BILL WILLIAMS. All give natural portrayals that are as compelling as the events of the bombing over Tokyo, the crash landing in China and the many events that follow. Relationships between Americans and the Chinese make for the most touching elements in the crash scene and the hospitalization.A fine tribute to the war effort, it's among the best of the service films produced by any of the major studios during WWII.

This represents one of the best WWII aviation movies. Follows the crew of Doolittle's Raiders who gave the US a boost in the early dark days of WWII. Well acted, excellent cinematography (Oscar nomination). Lots of great shots of B-25s for aviation buffs. The early days of training are especially interesting as the crews try and get their aircraft off the ground in a very short distance. At that point none of them realized they would ultimately have to take their B-25s off the deck of an aircraft carrier. Based on Ted Lawson's (played by Van Johnson) autobiographical accounting of the raid in the book of the same name. Excellent acting by Van Johnson and Spencer Tracy as General Doolittle.

Made during the dark days of WWII, this movie is outstanding because it continued the whole purpose of the raid, that is, to boost American moral by striking back at Japan for the Pearl Harbor attack. It is ironic that Dalton Trumbo was one of the screenwriters. He was later blacklisted for his political views. Regardless of whether Trumbo was a victim or hero of the era when writers were being fired for their alleged Soviet sympathies, the facts of the raid were written in a patriotic and completely pro-war manner.The men who went on the raid were bono fide heros. And as a former USAF pilot, I appreciate their skill and courage for conducting a gutsy mission. However, in the hindsight of history, the raid was about as affective as V-1 and V-2 Nazi attacks on London, or the Iraq Scud attacks on Israel and Allied forces during the Gulf War, or more recent Hezbolla rocket attacks on Israel. The purpose behind all these efforts was an attempt to mold public opinion and moral.Trumbo was a propagandist of the highest caliber. Lt. Doolittle himself thought the raid was a military failure. All of the B-25 bombers were lost as well as a large number of the crews. No significant military damage was done. (As no really significant damage was caused by the Pearl Harbor attack which sunk obsolete battleships, but no carriers.) Moral during war is as important as guns. This movie and many others of its era had an important role to play in winning the war. Without similar efforts today, our country and its freedoms are at risk due to an ideology that thinks making war on civilians is a religiously just and proper means to an end. The Nazi and Fascist governments of Germany and Italy did not attack the US in 1941. However Roosevelt knew that he had to spend most of our resources fighting and defeating Nazi Germany first. We were already at war with Germany in the North Atlantic when Japan attacked us on Dec 7, 1941. Hollywood did not make movies pointing out that Roosevelt lied, or committed us to war without the consent of Congress. It did paint the enemy, which had embarked on a conquest of the world exactly for what it was. If Trumbo were alive today, I wonder what type of screenplay he would write about the current world war that is underway.