Cheap Destination Tokyo (Video) (Cary Grant, John Garfield) (Delmer Daves) Price

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Customer Reviews of Destination Tokyo

This Destination Is a Good Time
Delmer Davies's Destination Tokyo is very enjoyable WWII submarine action drama about a covert naval operation to scope out information for the aerial bombing of a primary Japanese naval yard. Starring a very charming Cary Grant as the sympathetic commanding officer and John Garfield as the girl obsessing crewman. Destination is very realistic in its depiction of submarine life and very watchable fifty-six years after its release. Though brimming with out-dated and silly comic relief, the contrived humor just adds to its considerable charm as a very watchable and dramatically engaging war film.A real gem of movie, Destination also has one of Grant's most unappreciated roles. Any fan of old war movies and Cary Grant can't go wrong buying this one.

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Still great action film, after all these years
Given the state of special effects at the time, the model work is excellent. Real Navy feel for the submarine patrols in the diesel boats. Good script,with a touch of the authentic. The ensemble cast of Grant,Hutton, Garfield, and so many other Warner faces from the thirties in this 40 flic is hard to find anyplace else. Grant lets other cast get in some closeup time,graceful actor. I want to add one note to a previous comment about Run Silent Run Deep, that was not John Wayne movie, but rather Clark Gable. And, I recall,Burt Lancaster. No matter. I hope this one gets resurrected on DVD, as They Were Expendable did. I like the line where Grant says "this boat has taken enough",surfaces and blows hell out of the Japanese tin can that has been pursuing them. Great fun.

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You might be surprised.
A WWII sub film made during the war? Probably a jingoistic, even racist, bit of ma-and-apple-pie propaganda with woefully dated special effects. That much is true of Destination Tokyo, to be sure. From that angle, it's still an interesting bit of WWII-meets-Hollywood history, and its plot even ties into the famous Dolittle raid. (The film never calls the raid by that name, but it uses the actual footage of the bombers leaving the carrier Hornet, so it's all clear enough what the inspiration is if you know WWII history.)

Destinaton Tokyo is also a strong enough film in its own right as long as you can accept/stomach its propaganda aims. The action sequences are pretty exciting by the day's standards, and the nicely acted slice-of-life bits with the colorful crew are formulaic but quite entertaining nonetheless. They're often funny too, thanks to John Garfield's perpetually horny braggart character.