Tora! Tora! Tora!

[pro-bassoonist]

Richard Fleischer's Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) is set to be released in Germany on November 20th. Courtesy of FOX.

Roger Ebert (October 12, 1970):

"Tora! Tora! Tora!" is one of the deadest, dullest blockbusters ever made. The very word "blockbuster" may be too lusty to describe it; maybe "blocktickler" is more like it for this timid epic. The subject is grand enough, but the screenplay mostly concerns itself with clerks, secretaries, teletype operators and government functionaries.

The task of the actors is to stand around reciting verbatim quotations from military histories at each other; we can almost see the screenwriters lurking behind those badly painted backdrops, trading three-by-five file cards like high school seniors. If you get the quotes and the footnotes right, you get an "A" no matter what you say. Right?

This is a big, incredibly expensive movie, and yet the final effect of its 25 millions is claustrophobic. We want to escape from all those offices, and all those bureaucrats misreading cablegrams at each other, and get back to the open terrain of a good old grade "B" war movie. John Wayne's World War II flicks may not have been masterpieces, but at least they had sand and sky in them, and heroes, and girls.

The old Hollywood moguls used to hate "message" movies. "When I want to send a message," David Selznick used to say, "I use Western Union." Selznick, presented with the script of "Tora! etc." and the information that $25 million was to be spent on it, would have had apoplexy. Here's a movie that doesn't even send the message; it's only about Western Union.

The direction mostly seems to be the responsibility of Richard Fleischer, and that's believable enough. Fleischer was responsible for "Dr. Dolittle," "The Boston Strangler" and "Che," and the same leaden touch is evident in "Tora." He never seems to have asked himself how the attack on Pearl Harbor could be effectively presented in dramatic terms. The 1940s Pearl Harbor potboilers at least gave you some characters to identify with, and a sense of suspense (will the hero die? The heroine? The best buddy?)

"Tora," on the other hand, offers no suspense at all because we know the attack on Pearl Harbor is going to happen, and it does, and then the movie ends. We don't even feel sympathy for the officers responsible (if that's the word.) They've been directed as wooden puppets reading security reports, etc.

The Japanese puppets at least have more life; Japanese directors who seem aware that SOMETHING should be happening controlled the Japanese sequences. By contrast, the Fleischer footage has the visual imagination of one of those dreadful Doublemint TV commercials. Everything seems to happen twice, to no purpose, and after the same lesson is drummed in long enough, we get the feeling we're watching the world's longest, most expensive audiovisual aid. Trouble is, it doesn't aid us much. Now that, you know that the Pearl Harbor attack was possible because of bureaucratic botchery on the American side, what do you know you didn't know before?

The acting is anti-dramatic, if anything. In reviewing "Catch-22," I mentioned Martin Balsam's overacting. "Tora" could desperately have used some overacting, which would have been acting, anyway. Fine actors like Balsam, Joseph Cotten and E.G. Marshall are, incredibly, lifeless.

The action sequences at the end are supposed to be the pay-off; we're all waiting, somewhat ghoulishly, for the bombs to go off and the ships to sink. And they do, for about 15 minutes, but the level of the special effects isn't particularly high.

Considering that we Americans have been derisive for years about the Japanese special effects in "King Kong Escapes," etc., I wonder how they'll take our cardboard battleships, blowing, up in our back-lot tanks. With a sigh and a shot of sake, likely. Meanwhile, "Tora" is playing at the Bismarck. Let's hope it doesn't sink it.

Variety:

Lavish ($25 million) and meticulous restaging of the Japanese airborne attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941 constitutes a brilliant logistics achievement which is not generally matched by the overall artistic handling of the accompanying dramatic narrative.

Effect of the story [from Tora! Tora! Tora! by Gordon W. Prange and The Broken Seal by Ladislas Farago] seems to prove that the Japanese government, while somewhat divided internally, at least had some unity of purpose in its expansion plans.

Both overall director Richard Fleischer and his Japanese counterparts do a dull job, and the monotonously low-key tone of scene after scene almost suggests that each was filmed without a sense of ultimate slotting in the finished form.

Pro-B

[pro-bassoonist]

Pro-B

[WVbkelley]

Received the Blu-ray TODAY from Amazon Germany and the disc is ALL-REGION US Fox Home Entertainment Blu-ray

Features English menu and TWO VERSIONS of the War Classic.


Japanese extended cut and the original US theatrical cut.

Subtitles are in the black bar and one line in the film. Sorry folks with 2.35:1 screens.

It features a new hi-def transfer with natural film grain, excellent sharpness, great depth, but the color seems to be adjusted somewhat compared to previous versions. After watching about hour of the movie the color palette is solid with no issues.

Overall its quite impressive. It makes Patton and The Longest Day look really bad with DNR. Both need to be remastered.

The bonus features include many of the documentaries found on the two-disc DVD set including: Day of Infamy, History vs. Hollywood, AMC Backstage, commentary track, photo galleries and more.

The cost was over $40 from Germany to the US.

I'm guessing the US release will be near Memorial Day 2010.

[digitalbabe]

Thanks to you both for the info. I had read in another forum, that a Japanese Limited Ed is also available. Unfortunately the booklet that accompanies may be all in Japanese. For the price I'd want to be able to enjoy it all, so I had been leaning towards the German Ed (I also speak German).Thanks again!

[Arkadin]

guess I'll just wait for the eventual US release.
c'mon Fox.

[JJ]

Aw. I love this film. Germany, eh?

[Shanester]

Watched it last night. Very nice transfer and good overall dts-hdma track but I noticed a few times the dialogue seem to be slightly out of sync.

[LordCrumb]

Extended Japanese Cut? I didn't know there was a different version of this film. Whats been changed/added?

[Shanester]

Originally Posted by KaiGusto

Extended Japanese Cut? I didn't know there was a different version of this film. Whats been changed/added?

It's a few mins longer but I don't know what the added scenes are

[bluskies]

Hmmm, here it is almost Memorial Day 2010 and we still don't have a U.S. release for this. I guess I will be ordering the UK version when it comes out there in June.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tora-Blu-ray...3937946&sr=8-1

[Arkadin]

yeah it's just impossible to make any sense of this.
I'm thinking if they don't release this in Dec--
around Pearl Harbor Day--
then anybody holding out should just import it.
I already got the German disc, but haven't even watched it yet.

[bluskies]

I know, it seems so weird that a country like Germany would be the one to produce this Blu-ray title. America would seem like a logical choice. Japan, obviously, is also a natural. So where is the American release?

[GregBlu5]

I see the UK version is being advertized. It says PAL on amazon. Does that mean it is region locked, non-US? I really like this film.

Where's the US version?

[Arkadin]

the designation PAL usually is meaningless for blu-ray as far as the main presentation, although there are a few exceptions.
all region 2 or B sites use PAL designations, but it's just a carryover from dvd listings which they recycle.
Being a mainstream Fox studio release I would expect all the extras to be ntsc, though possibly locked to region 2.
Fox is hard to gauge sometimes--they have released locked catalog releases and unlocked catalog releases.
this one is region free, as are all the other releases of this title so far.
so it's 99% the same disc everywhere.
so you could order any one you wanted and it should not matter.

[George Gábor]

I received the UK version in the mail yesterday and it does indeed play in my Region A player.

Unfortunately (and I thought Fox was above Sony on this) the subtitles are split between being in the image frame and below it. As I have a 2.35:1 CIH screen, this renders the disc unusable to me. Why do some studios treat their customers this way? Why can't they place the subtitles entirely into the image frame and let even the videophiles among us enjoy the movie?

[fabiovasques]

For those who have the german or british edition of this Blu-Ray, could you please tell me what are the subtitles available?

Thanks in advance!
Fábio

[Arkadin]

what a perfect day to watch this amazing bd!
looks really nice although does have a few minor issues.
btw: someone asked about subs--the German version--and I suspect all versions--lists the following subs as being available:
Deutsch, English, Franzosisich, Tschechisch, Danisch, Finnisch, Italienisch, Hollandisch, Norwegisch, Schwedisch
(listed in German obviously from the back of the case; someone else can translate)

[Tsungam]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

Deutsch, English, Franzosisich, Tschechisch, Danisch, Finnisch, Italienisch, Hollandisch, Norwegisch, Schwedisch

German, English, French, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish.