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Tora! Tora! Tora!” is an almost unbearably boring epic. Calling it a “blockbuster” is flattering; perhaps “blocktickler” is more appropriate for this timid film. The focus is impressive enough, but the screenplay spends most of its time with clerks, secretaries, teletype operators, and other government employees.
The actors in this film are expected to stand in place and recite lines of dialogue written from quotations taken from military records, and we can practically hear the writers antique accusing each other over those poorly painted sets. The producers give you all the citations and references that you want and it doesn’t matter what your say afterward, you will pass.
This film is large in scope and budget, but the final product of its 25 million dollar budget is caged in. There is no escaping all those offices and bureaucrats misinterpreting telegrams, and returning to the expansive fields of a good old fashioned grade B war film. While John Wayne’s World War II films were not great works of art, they did at least include elements of ‘sand and sky’, as well as heroes and girls.
That’s why he didn’t like it at all. “If I had a message to convey, I would use Western Union.” He Selznick was simply going to explode at being handed the script for “Tora! Why do I need to tell anything? The title of the movie alone makes it clear that there is no purpose to it and the only theme Western Union is revolved around the movie.
Most likely some of the blame lies with the ruthless Richard Fleischer, but that seems plausible enough. This man had “The Incredible Doctor Dolittle,” “The Boston Strangler” and “Che!” (1969), and sapped it of all energy, much like he did to “Tora.” His films are devoid of emotion; There are no attempts to think, how can I construct the attack on Pearl Harbor into something remotely powerful? At least the 1940s Pearl Harbor potboilers gave you some sense of being able to relate to the characters, and some modicum of suspense (Will the hero die? The heroine? The best buddy?)
As far as confusion goes, “Tora,” has no need to build any suspense at all because there is none. We know the attack on Pearl Harbor is going to happen. At least, we used to, but now we’re told it simply occurs, and the movie ends. Too bad there isn’t any ounce of sympathy left for the officers in charge (If that’s the right word). They’ve been directed as wooden puppets reading security reports, etc.
One can say that the Japanese puppets have some semblance of life; at least they had a Japanese director who appeared to understand that SOMETHING ought to be happening during the Japanese parts. The Fleischer footage is no better. It has the visual creativity of those awful Doublemint TV commercials. Everything happens for no reason, and after long enough with the same theme pounded into our skulls, we get the impression we are looking at the most costly and longest pay per view commercial in the world, with a few unhelpful pointers. Now that you understand that the attack on Pearl Harbor was made possible by American bureaucratic bungling, what is it that you know now that you did not know before?
The acting is certainly not something that you would expect to be dramatic. In the review of “Catch-22,” I discussed the overacting of Martin Balsam. _Tora _could have used a little overacting desperately which would, have been acting anyways. How is it possible that such good actors like Balsam, Joseph Cotten and E.G. Marshall, gradually, and for all appearances, become so inert?
Everyone is supposed to be relieved by the action sequences at the end, It is a little sinister since we are all waiting for the bombs to explode and the boats to go under. In all, they do for about 15 minutes, but the quality of the special effects leaves much to be desired.
Given that we Americans have poked fun for years over the Japanese special effects in “King Kong Escapes” and the like, I wonder how they will take out cardboard battleships exploding in our back-lot tanks? Probably with a sigh and a shot of sake. In the meantime, let’s hope the Bismarck does not sink while “Tora” is playing.
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