Warbird Information Exchange

I confess I knew nothing of this film set in the early days of the post WWII US occupation of Japan, but it looks interesting. Plus, the trailer makes for a good game of "spot the warbird" (both real and model/computer generated) for this forum ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4Htr2B1EBj4#!

Wow.
Yeah, news to me, too. Looks good and Jones usually does a great job with authority figure roles. I'll be seeing this for sure!

_________________
Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

Looks good! Probably not much in the way of warbirds other than the C-54 though.

Tom P.

Looks good, I'd like to see this as well. Didn't see much from that time left or displayed when I was in Japan a few years ago, but man are their cities and countryside awesome to visit.

IMDB shows it was mostly filmed in New Zealand. Are there any C-54/DC-4s registered there? I'm not sure but a lot of the plane shots look CGI anyway. The tail is marked "SJ-EC"... Should be 49027 I guess (44-9027, Bataan II), but I haven't found any photos showing the actual plane's tail.

_________________

All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Looks interesting, but I'm always a bit leary when a movie is promoted as "Inpsired" by a true story. That usually means "Heavily fictionalized, with a gratuitous romantic subplot to bring in the chicks." I'll definitely give it a look though.

Although it's hard to tell from a YouTube clip, all the shots of the C-54 look like CGI to me..even the one of MacArthur coming down the stairs. However it looks better than most attempts to render aircraft.

SN

I'm sure you're right about the airborn stuff and the welcoming POV from the stairs definitely seems "enhanced" (probably compositing more people and vehicles than were really present for the filming). But, I feel quite sure the landing (at 00:22) is authentic as well as the following close shot of the engines while taxiing.

There's also the brief snippets of war wreckage scattered throughout the trailer that feature a number of different Japanese types. Those are almost all assuredly models or pure CGI creations.

Yep. We also have to assume that what it was based on was good history to start with. Anyone know anything about the book His Majesty's Salvation?

The best I can say right now, is that it will likely raise public interest about what are generally otherwise unknown events.

I'm guessing the action looking scenes are going to be from the depiction of this: Kyūjō Incident

Finally, on a clerical note, shouldn't this go in the "Military Movie Guide" subforum?

_________________
Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

That was my assumption as well.

What a pleasant surprise, Haven't heard anything about it till now. I've always been intrigued by General MacArthur and the first days of the occupation. My Grandfather was in the 11th Airborne in the Philippines and Japan had the chance to work around MacArthur. He always said that he thought he was a "pompous a$$" and thought it was a wonder he didn't blow himself up when he came ashore in the Philippines. He told me he watched as he was poking around and saw him kicking at some UXO on the beach or somewhere inland. Even though I am, I could tell he wasn't a big fan of the General! Can't wait to see this!

_________________
Ken Terpstra

Vice-President
Stockton Field Aviation Museum
PV-2D Harpoon 84062

I certainly hope it measures up to Fortress and Red Tails!

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

Already saw one oops on the trailer. Wrong National insignia on the C-54. Figure someone would have caught that?

_________________
Ken Terpstra

Vice-President
Stockton Field Aviation Museum
PV-2D Harpoon 84062

There are no C-54/DC-4's in NZ. There is a good chance that the mountain in the trailer was Mt Taranaki, which has 'played' Mt Fuji in several films (e.g. The last Samurai). It's possible that they used the Corsair in US Navy colours, but I didn't hear about it (it's based at the same airfield as Peter Jackson's The Vintage Aviator). The Mustang is in post-war RNZAF markings, the P-40s RAAF and Chinese.


TVAL12_8902fl by errolgc, on Flickr

2 things...

1: if it ends with them all being dead the entire time, I'm gonna be super pissed
2: it already has more real warbirds than "Red Tails" so it gets my support

The uniforms (costumes!!!)--in context to the warbirds--being worn by the Americans suck...out loud!