Many people mistakenly believe that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in retaliation for Pearl Harbor. In actuality, the retaliation was a bombing raid initialized by Roosevelt which took place in April of 1942. Why the delay? Up until that time, the U.S. couldn’t get their planes close enough to Tokyo, but by April, they were able to bring their ships within range and the planes could take off from the decks of the ships. This raid was named after James Doolittle, the man who captained it, and you can read more about the Doolittle Raid at FreeRepublic.
“Destination Tokyo” is a speculative film, the only movie about the war that Cary Grant made during the war. What if the Doolittle raiders got information from a source on shore who gave them coordinates? And what if a U.S. submarine was the means by which the informant made it to Japan? And what if Cary Grant was the captain of that submarine?
Grant stars as Captain Cassidy, captain of the U.S.S. Copperfin. He has just one mission left before going home, and he does not know what that mission will be. His instructions are in a sealed envelope in his office, and he can only open it after a day at sea. When the mission is finally revealed, he learns that he is to take the sub to the Aleutian Islands to pick up Reserve Officer Raymond, who was raised in Japan and knows his way around. They will then take him into Tokyo Bay and deposit him near shore. This is done very cleverly as they sneak in under the Japanese ships and avoid radar detection to aid the Doolittle aircraft to their proper destination.
While the suspense of the war was interesting, my favorite part of this movie was the characterization of the men on board. We get to know each of them, watch friendships form, and feel their anxiety as one of their crew mates falls ill with appendicitis and the pharmacist on board has to perform surgery with the help of a text book. The interaction between the men helped the viewer to appreciate better the danger the submarine was in.
Again, the plot is speculative. I’ve done a bit of research into the Doolittle Raid and never found any evidence that they were guided in by a submarine (although, if I am wrong, please leave a comment and correct me.) But it’s sure fun to think about all the what-ifs.
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