Warbird Information Exchange

I think that everyone can agree that "Tora, Tora, Tora" is the definitive Pearl Harbor movie. However, among the other movies where Pearl Harbor is inclusive to the story, which one, in your opinion handles it the best? Here are some of the movies I can recall of the top of my head:

Pearl Harbor - Upside - they used real Zeros. Downside, they (and the P-40s) all fly like F-18s, and the story is uber hokey.

Air Force - You have to consider when this movie was shot, but their depiction of Pearl Harbor was wildly inaccurate, like the one scene where Japanese "collaborators" start shooting at them

In Harm's Way - this one was reasonably accurate, up to the sub attack on the cruiser.

From Here To Eternity - I haven't seen this is such a long time, I can't comment on its authenticity.

The Winds of War -- okay, so it was a mini-series and not a feature movie, and they used a lot of the stock from Tora, Tora, Tora, but they seemed to handle this as accurately (outside of the fictitious Pug Henry) as any movie outside of Tora, Tora, Tora

Can anyone think of any other Pearl Harbor movies, or has opinions on any of the above?

the original tora of 1970 does the pic the most justice. accurate, riveting, well studied format / story, actors fit their characters etc.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Inter cut the SF from Pearl Harbor into Tora, Tora, Tora and you will have pretty close to the perfect movie.

The Final Countdown is about my personal favorite of the Pearl Harbor movies. The ending could have been better though.

Saw Pearl this weekend. The scene at the end where the P-40 pilot takes his boy on his lap for a ride in a Stearman. My dad also took me for a ride on his lap in a Pitts when I was 3 or so. Very moving, since dad was killed about 3 years ago.

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There was a TV miniseries back in the late '70s/early '80s called "Pearl," but it was mainly a soap opera, with the attack as a finale. As I recall, all the attack scenes were lifted from TTT. I only mention it in the interests of adding to the list.

SN

Don't forget the documentary December 7th filmed on location in Hawaii shortly after the attack, which has been the source of stock footage many times; note that the Army and Navy planes on the ground have the striped rudders as used briefly after the beginning of the war.

Japan's Toho Studios produced Hawai Marei Oki Kaisen (The War at Sea Fron Hawaii to Malaya) a year after the attack; lots of miniature work from the SFX crew that later brought us the Godzilla pictures. There's a photo of the miniature ships (they look to be about 6' long) being tended by a fellow wearing a fundoshi and bowler hat; this has been misidentified as a training aid for the pilots before the attack.

The Revolt of Mamie Stover from 1956 had some scenes during the attack that were reused in the the TV show The Time Tunnel's Pearl Harbor segment.

In 1960 Toho Studios returned with Hawai Middouei daikaikusen: Taiheiyo no arashi aka I Bombed Pearl Harbor, although it dealt more with the battle of Midway (and was the source of a lot of footage for the 1976 Midway).

1968's Bob Hope picture The Private Navy of Sergeant O'Farrell has a flashback in which Bob and Gina Lollobrigida get strafed at Waikiki by this plane:





This has been a big mystery to me; where on Earth did they get color footage of an Oscar (and a Zero behind it!) flying in 1968??? Note the kill markings under the cockpit.

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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)

I find "The Final Countdown" plot to be barely less believeable than that of "Perarl Harbor"!

somebody enlighten me on those color oscar pics!!! colorized??? kodachrome film?? photo shop?? + i've never seen these pics!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Could they perhaps be large scale models? Has anyone seen the video?

Not color footage from WWII but of the Planes of Fame Oscar.
Probably one of the films it appeared in before getting shipped off to Japan.
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 found the series "Pearl" rather lame IMHO. As for Final Countdown I'd rather watch that then Pearl Harbor.

I can't see "In Harms Way" being anywhere near accurate either. Too much lovely mushy stuff for me in that one thank you.

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those oscar pics look pretty original, grainy, out of focus. do the markings match up with your info??

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

The POF plane that was later sold to a Japanese buyer was a not an Oscar but a Ki-84 Frank. The Oscar seen in the color pics was a captured bird used in stateside recognition/propaganda films (same with the Zeke.) It's the same one owned by the NASM, currently on display at Pima. It last flew in 1946..the color footage seen in the 1968 film must have been shot then. Photos from that time show the plane in the same markings with the kill flags. Here's some info from the website j-aircraft.com:

Nakajima Ki-43-IIb Type 1 Fighter s/n 6430 (or possibly 5894)

Belonged to 63rd Sentai based at Hollandia.

In May of 1944 the 84th Aerodrome Squadron began rebuilding this plane at Sentani Field at Hollandia. It was completed and test flown in September 1944. Subsequently the plane was shipped back to the United States before the 84th left the Hollandia area in November 1944. It was at Wright Field in Dayton Ohio according to an inventory list from March 1946.

In this list the Oscar was also recorded as serial number C430, which probably was a misreading of 6430. Then in May 1946 it was at NAS Anacostia. Later it was received at No. 803 Special Depot, Park Ridge, for museum storage on 22nd July 1946. While in the US it also wore the number “10” on its fin.

The plane was later refurbished by the Wisconsin Air National Guard and then put on display in the Experimental Aircraft Association Museum in Osh Kosh Wisconsin on loan from the NASM. At this time it was repainted with the markings of the 63rd Sentai.

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I got ahold of a VHS copy of "I Bombed Pearl Harbor" last year. Pretty hokey, but they actually made a pretty decent effort to get the correct types of aircraft, although all were plywood mockups or miniatures. All the scenes of the Japanese carriers being bombed in the movie "Midway" and the Japanese anti-aircraft crews were taken from this film. Not to get off-topic, but I don't think there's more than maybe 30 minutes of original footage in "Midway."

SN

One of "In Harm's Way"'s real problems is that most of the women are wearing 1960s era hairdos and clothing except when they are in uniform.

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"I can't understand it, I cut it twice and it's still too short!" Robert F. Dupre' 1923-2010 Go With God.

Filmed before there was "Photoshop"...
Filmed with Kodachrome...NOT colorized.
This was made of the OSCAR which has recenlt moved from the EAA Museum to greener pastures...there are still photos of this OSCAR with the fake US FLAG kills at Davis-Monthan in the late 1940s.

The Eglin Field post war exercises gathered many planes for 'fly off' comparisons. An A6M5 and Ki-43 participated. The movie film was made during those exercises...and used in the cited Bob Hope film.

Cheers,
David