Tora! Tora! Tora! [Region 2]

This is taken from a book of the same name, written by an American in the US occupation force who wrote this detailed history based on inside information including, among other important details,, the American partial cracking of the Japanese code, which led them to the conclusion a number of hours in advance that a very long coded message to the Japanese embassy was in fact a declaration of war, meaning all US forces needed to be on an immediate war footing.Then it took hours to locate and bring together the necessary military and administration officials, and the military officer sent to telegraph Pearl Harbor couldn't deal with the fact his own service's direct telecommunications with Pearl Harbor were down, couldn't bring himself to use the other service's, and instead sent it Western Union, neglected to mark it urgent, and it hopscotched through myriad intermediatry Western Union offices before finally arriving at Pearl Harbor, hours late.There was also the brass who ignorned a kill of a mini-sub near the harbor and the radar installation - which only operated at night when it wouldn't step on commercial radio broadcasts, reported huge flight incoming, and the supervising officer decided without inquiring further it must be a flight from San Diego and told the crew to sign off and go back to barracks. Then there was the airfield officer who ignored orders from higher up and clustered all his planes under guard, more worried about Japanese saboteurs than being attacked, meaning only two fighters ever got off the ground.A SNAFU from beginning to end, but as usual, not the nonsensical conspiracy alleged by nitwits who think FDR let them sink the Pacific fleet to get into WWII - as if it wouldn't be enough that they declared war, attacked - and we won the battle. As usual, given a choice between stupid and a vast secret conspiracy - especially when it doesn't make sense even if it were true - it's going to be stupid 100% of the time. Everyone operates with recency bias. We can't believe the yellow man would attack us across thousands of miles of ocean, just as the Brits couldn't imagine the Japanese could run through Malaysia to Singapore, where the Japanese practically walked in unopposed.Like most wars, it started with myriad errors, mostly on the US side (the Japanese had been fighting in Asia for close to a decade and had a well honed war machine). Save the biggest blunder - declaring war on the US in the first place. The quote attributed to Yamamoto at the end - that the Japanese had awakened a terrible enemy and could only hope to delay the inevitable - was not a recorded quote from the time, though it probably reflected his thinking; he had lived in the US for a time and had a very good idea about the industrial capacity of the US which Japan could not match.Weirdly, the unabridged book was only published in Japanese, in Japan, though written by an American with the military//diplomatic delegation, and is available in English to this day only, to my knowledge, in abridged form, by, of all people, Reader's Digest 40 years ago!A Youtube history channel (sorry, don't recall which) counted this as unsurpassed in its historical accuracy, and I've no reason to doubt it. Well done all around. No dominant heroes - and plenty of stupid to go around along with some heroism, but believable characters on both sides, including Japanese playing the Japanese getting equal time, speaking Japanese. (I haven't checked, but I imagine this also saw release in Japan).If you're looking for a movie you can chant USA! to, maybe not your movie, but if you want an accurate picture of how wars often start - with mind-numbing blunders as well as courage, which can turn around if you can survive long enough - this is a fine example. It's very convenient having thousands of miles of ocean between us and any country with hope of threatening us, though that's less comfort in the nuclear age.

The first time I saw Tora! Tora! Tora! was on the big screen at Naval Hospital, San Diego. I liked it so much I saw it three nights in a row. Some years later, I purchased the VHS video tape the day of its release. I have two DVD versions of Tora! Tora! Tora! as well as two VHS versions of the movie. I've also watched the Japanese version (with English subtitles). Tora! Tora! Tora! is a great film but it should not be taken as the ultimate "truth" about Pearl Harbor and how America got into World War II.Tora! Tora! Tora! used an American director for the American sequences, and two Japanese directors (the first was fired) for the filming of the Japanese sequences. Much of the original Japanese crew was let go when the first Japanese director was fired (for being way over budget and for producing only 600 feet of film, as I recall).This is a truly excellent movie that men and women can both watch and enjoy.Beware, however, the scenes showing the "12 Apositles" who were "allowed access" to `Magic'(decrypted Japanese diplomatic and consular intercepts). The actual number of Americans with access to Magic was well over 100. And the President's name was NEVER taken off what the movie calls "the Ultra List." (FDR didn't actually read all the daily diplomatic intercepts, of which the Army and Navy had just over 8,000 in 1941 alone. Instead, he read daily summaries of the intercepts. The same applies to most of the senior officers in the War and Navy Departments.)Alwin D. Kramer, Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy, and Colonel Rufus Sumnter Bratton, U.S. Army, both worked in different offices rather than in a combined Army-Navy office shown in the movie. Both men were attached to the Far Eastern Sections of their respective intelligence departments (Office of Naval Intelligence with Kramer; Military Intelligence Division (for Bratton).) Bratton was officer in charge of the Far Eastern Section of MID. Kramer was head of OP-20-GZ (translation section in the Office of Naval Communications, OP-20), but he was actually on OP-16's (Office of Naval Intelligence's) payroll. Tora! Tora! Tora! gives Bratton's middle initial as "G", but that is in error. His middle name was Sumnter, as stated above."Magic" (again, intercepted foreign diplomatic and consular messages) was critical to what the U.S. (and British) Governments knew of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's diplomatic efforts. Although the National Security Agency still denies this, we also had a product called Ultra as relates to Japan. These were intercepted, decoded and translated Japanese naval and military intercepts. Ultra played a major part in our victory over the Combined Fleet in the Battle of Midway, fought 4 to 6 June 1942.Tora! Tora! Tora! is, as I said, an excellent movie. It's full of suspense and it is very well acted by both the Americans and the Japanese. It presents a fair few of both the American and Japanese perspectives that helped lead to "Pearl Harbor" and U.S. entry into the Second World War.First Lieutenant Kermit A. Tyler is claimed in the movie to say, "Well, don't worry about it," when he's told of the large number of planes approaching the Opana Point Radar station from north of Oahu (flying in over Kahuku Point). Tyler himself later testified that this was his reaction to the radar report phoned to him by Privates Lockard and Elliott. Here's the rub: The USS LEXINGTON had a radar and visual sighting of two Japanese carrier aircraft approximately 400 miles north west of Oahu on Saturday afternoon, 6 December 1941. LEXINGTON's radar report was the real first sighting of some of the Japanese aircraft that took part in the raid on Pearl Harbor.American intelligence didn't "fail" in the lead up to the events of 7 December 1941. Intelligence, however, isn't always used the way the average citizen thinks it should be used. Those in high political and military offices have many strategic and tactical matters they have to factor into the decision making process. Not the least of these was the apathy of the American people in the period leading up to the Japanese raid on our obsolete battleships at Pearl Harbor. (Our three carriers then in the Pacific, LEXINGTON, ENTERPRISE and SARATOGA were not in port on 7 Dec. 1941. "Target ship," USS UTAH, was moored at a carrier berth off Ford Island. Battleship COLORADO, that had completed an overhaul at Bremerton, Washington a month before, was still at Bremerton. WEST VIRGINIA, that was overdue for overhaul, was moored outboard at Ford Island.)This reviewer spent a little over 13 years researching Pearl Harbor on a full time basis. He has absolutely no animus for the Japanese---nor does he hold any animus for any of the senior Americans involved with Pearl Harbor."Pearl Harbor" saved the world (including Japan, in my opinion) from the Nazis. At the cost of a few thousand Americans, millions of lives were spared in Europe and Asia---and, ultimately---in the U.S. as well.Tora! Tora! Tora! is one of my ten favorite movies. I've probably watched it over 50 times in the past thirty six years or so. And I will probably watch it another fifty times or more between now and the time I storm the great beyond.E.G. Marshall (R.S. Bratton) and Wesley Addy (A.D. Kramer) in the film both do exceptional jobs with their acting. So does every other member of the U.S. and Japanese cast, in my opinion.Great movie---and, in my opinion, a "Must have" for every American and Japanese who appreciates the very best in direction, acting, scenery, editing, cinamatography, etc. This is also a good action film---and it is fair to both the Japanese and American perspectives.A "Well done!" to every member of the cast and crew of Tora! Tora! Tora! and to 20th Century Fox for producing this wonderful movie!Andrew McKane IVMissoula, Montana

Love the movie

I don't usually go for these 2 disc sets but in this case it is defiantly worth it.The second disc explains how the movie was made and the problems directors and producers had to overcome. Very interesting especially since the script had to be ok'd by the Japanese director and government as well as the US directors and military.The goal of the production was to have a factual representation of the attack FROM BOTH SIDES !The movie is among the great ones and the added second disc is a story all it's own.

Good quality picture. It plays like I would expect it to play.

I like it

Great view from Japan's view of attack. Worth buying and watching!

will keep you in front of TV-make a big bag of popcorn

I always have my fingers crossed these days when I decide to upgrade to a Blu Ray from an existing standard DVD.This time it was worth it.It is not up to modern Blu ray standards, it would be ridiculous to expect that. But for film stock over 50 years old this BR version is, in my view, impressive.The visuals are a bit variable, but always better than standard DVD, and often very, very good.But even more than the visuals is the sound quality. I would say it is right up there with the best.Well worth the upgrade cost if you like this film.My 5 stars in this case would be for the BR conversion and the film - a true classic, even being based on historical facts doesn't make it clunky.Just for reference - so you know what I'm viewing with, I have a high-end 4K OLED TV, a Sony 4K BR player and listen through a Yamaha AV receiver and good 5.1 speakers. Just to contextualise!

The movie is in two parts. The first part is a reprise of the build-up leading to the infamous day when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. This charts ambivalence and incompetence on the part of certain America middle order officers and top brass who short-changed their countrymen.The prequel to the Japanese invasion indicates how the Japanese were led by their army who must have held idiocy as part of the qualification for promotion. Imagine Japan in 1941 thinking that they could invade the USA. The logistics were gargantuan and thinking otherwise indicates that the Japanese high command were led by similar incompetence to that of Nazi Germany.The second part of the movie is all about the bombing, full of action and some impressive film footage that indicates the sheer terror of the attack.Considering when this movie was made the quality of the DVD was very good as was the acting from an ensemble cast consisting of the stars of the day both American and Japanese.I must admit that one has to admire how the USA pulled itself together after such an attack and organised their resources to counter the Japanese aggression. Thereafter the horror of the Pacific War ensued. The whole affair made me very unhappy thinking about the waste of so many decent people on all sides.I give the movie 5 out of 5 as it does not thump the chauvinist barrel, but reports the facts plain and simply in a manner which communicates a considerable amount of history in a single movie. Highly recommended to anyone wishing to gain more history about the origins of the American war with Japan and what bought them into WW2.

Worth buying for the music alone. This is how to make a war movie. You can keep all the CGI and concentrate on the script. Great cast, direction and a candid realistic approach.

Forget the abomination that was Pearl Harbour a ridiculous CGI loaded bromance from Michael Bey. Stick with Tora Tora Tora with real planes and people who were alive during the attack giving a remarkably honest depiction of what happened. This is a classic film that manages to combine drama with education, stick with this one.

Without doubt the best war film of all time in my opinion,filmed before the advent of "Special Effects" the action sequences are incredible,and knowing what you are seeing is actually happening,with no digital enhancement ,really makes it a visual feast!Before the actual raid on Pearl Harbour there is the build up to the inevitable seen from both sides which nicely ratchets the tension to the final climaxOf course now in Blu-Ray really does enhance the picture,can't recommend this enough,buy it and enjoy it!