Torah! Torah! Torah!
Torah! Torah! Torah! is an American - Japanese war film co-production from 1970 about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . The directors dramatize the events that led to the entry of the US into the war , from both the American and the Japanese point of view. The alternate title is The Battle That Set the World on Fire .
action
In 1941, US and Japanese diplomats persistently negotiate in the face of an impending war in the Pacific. At the same time, both sides arm and bring their armed forces into position. Radio messages indicate an imminent offensive by the Far Eastern Empire.
After all, the development was irreversible, the Japanese decided to go to war and on December 7, 1941, attacked the completely surprised American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii with their aircraft carriers . The negligence and ignorance of politicians and military officials who do not respond adequately to warnings from the intelligence services leave the US fleet in the "unprepared" status, several battleships are sunk and more than 2,400 people are killed. However, the American aircraft carriers are out of range of the Japanese attack operations.
The commander of the Japanese squadron wants to continue attacking because the American aircraft carriers could not be sunk, but Admiral Nagumo orders a retreat to Japan; With the elimination of the American battleships , he considers the main objective of the attack to be achieved, and the navy is indispensable for the further war efforts of the German Empire.
Shortly before the attack, the Japanese wanted to hand the US a diplomatic note at 1:00 p.m. Washington time , which would break off all negotiations between the two countries. Due to delays in the Japanese embassy, they cannot do so until after the attack. The US answered the attack with a declaration of war. Admiral Yamamoto steps out onto the forward deck of his flagship and sees a terrible argument approaching.
Reviews
“War film staged with great effort and a visible effort to ensure historical accuracy. While the defenselessness of the Americans, which results from carelessness and commitment to the rules of democracy, is impressively portrayed at first, the film turns into a fireworks spectacle that tends to downplay the war. "
“A war spectacle of proportions seldom seen in the cinema before. Striving for historical detail and sobriety, but not entirely without questionable show and publicity effects. "
background
- The radio signal "to ra, to ra, to ra" ("to" for totsugeki, "attack", and "ra" for raigeki, "torpedoes / torpedo bombers") was the signal that the attack should be carried out in the variant for complete surprise was with the torpedo bombers first. The signal was also received by American radio operators, but instead of “to ra” they understood “tora”, the Japanese word for “tiger”. This led to the fact that the radio message became known as "tora, tora, tora".
- The film was shot on the original location in Hawaii. The parts filmed in Japan were originally intended to be filmed by director Akira Kurosawa . When the latter was still unable to deliver satisfactory material after two years, 20th Century Fox assigned this task to Kinji Fukasaku .
- At the box office during the Vietnam War, the film was a financial disaster; over time, however, it became a critically-acclaimed classic.
The Yamamoto quote
The legendary Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto says towards the end of the film: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” (German literally: “I'm afraid all we have done is to wake a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible determination. ") However, the German dubbing of the film differs significantly from the direct translation of this sentence:" It is as if we have awakened a sleeping giant and kindled the will in him to fight with all your might. ”In the last scene of the film, the text“ I'm afraid we have awakened a dormant but determined giant. ”is faded in. The English sentence has been quoted frequently and used again in the film Pearl Harbor (2001), among others , but cannot be ascribed to the real Yamamoto.
Awards
Torah! Torah! Torah! received the Oscar in the category Best Special Effects in 1970 and received the following four nominations: Best Equipment , Best Cinematography , Best Editing and Best Sound .
Reusing some scenes
Some scenes from this film were also used in the Battle of Midway movie . These include the attack on the airfield, burning flying boats, a landing heavy bomber, a scene in which a vehicle drives into an iron sliding door of a maintenance hall, as well as exploding tank trucks and an anti-aircraft machine gunner with a tattered shirt.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Torah! Torah! Torah! In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 453/1970
Web links
- Torah! Torah! Torah! in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Torah! Torah! Torah! atRotten Tomatoes(English)
- Discussion of the film and the soundtrack