Warbird Information Exchange

I watched Tora, Tora, Tora last night with some people who had never seen it. I've seen it unknown number of times and have always had an interest in the film and it's production since I first saw it in the theaters.
Has an extended version ever been released or extended for TV?
I haven't ever heard of one, but last night there were two specific scenes that I have NEVER seen before. There really wasn't a need for them, but I found them interesting and a little "Akira Kurosawa-ish". The two scenes involved Yamamoto at the Emperor's home beginning with soldiers performing a marching maneuver in front of the palace, and two cooks aboard the Akagi discussing in a strangely humorous sequence, about crossing the international date line.

They were very odd and seemed out of place.
Any Tora experts out there that might know a bit more about this version? (David Aiken?)

There weren't any other "new" bits that I could see, but when I get a chance, I want to compare it to my DVD, since I recorded T3 last night on the HD-DVR.
Jerry

BTW, as some of you might know, there is a quick shot of the wrecked VAL in the film.

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

I saw part of it last night on TV.

It had been a few years and I was really inpressed with the P-40 aerial combat shots. Very well done (especially after the Pearl Harbor & Red Tails GCI cartoons).

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

My Brother-In-Law kept remarking that aircraft looked so good, so real! I told him that's because they are real!
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

I've never seen those two scenes either. Interesting. I'd love to see all the scenes that got cut. Tora is one of the best war movies, the flying was awesome. Love the one-wheeled B-17 coming through the smoke, the Zero that does a 1 1/4 snap roll as it is shot down and then the P-40 in a diving left hand turn with vortices coming off the wingtips.


Chappie

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Brrring. Dispersal? TWO SECTIONS SCRAMBLE!!

That was not intended to be part of the movie. The gear stuck in the up position and the director told the pilot to keep circling while cameras were set up. Once they were ready they told him to bring it in and the rest is on film.

I've heard about the scene with the cooks..I understand it was one of the few finished scenes that Kurisawa turned in, despite being weeks behind schedule. That was among the reasons he was fired from the project..another being that he hired bankers and businessmen to play the senior officers rather than professional actors, in an effort to secure funding for future projects.

The version of the film shown at the premiere was several minutes longer than the wide release. I had always assumed that the cut scenes were lost, but the fact that some have been restored makes me hopeful that the "long " version may eventually turn up on blue ray.

Sn

This may have been posted before. It's a good read on how they modified planes for the movie.

http://www.toratoratora.com/historyrebuilt.html

Another good read on the production side of the movie. I didn't know one of the films actor's, Jason Robards, actually witnessed the Dec 7th raid from his ship.

http://www.daveswarbirds.com/tora/American.htm

You win the pony for the very best description of those two ah movies.

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Hang The Expense

I believe that is the Yankee Lady.

Actuall, if memory serves and I think is has been mentioned on here several times before when discussing the B-17 crash scene, the B-17 in question is the late Bob Richardson's N17W, now known and restored (but no longer flying) as 'Boeing Bee'.

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Mark Morris

I was told that it is the "Yankee Lady". This was told to me by members of YAM staff back in 2005.

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A&P/I.A., A.A.S./Aviation Maintenance technology
Warbird salvage/recovery
One day I'll get that P-40!

As I recall, I thought the wheels up B-17 was the B-17 known as "The Batmobile" which was lost in a crash in the 1970's.

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Not sure if it was called 'The Batmobile', but it was 44-85774 (N621L) that did the one-wheel landing.
http://www.aerovintage.com/tora.htm
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/b17regis ... 85774.html

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I'm not an "expert" but just a fan of the old "battle" movies and what I know is, that the longer version is known as the "Extended Japanese cut" in the movie world. You can check a detailed description of the 2 scenes from the extended version here.
Cheers!

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Yves Marino