Submarine films generally offer a great deal of tension and suspense, because any false move or an attack by the enemy would mean virtually certain death. I didn't sense that kind of palpable danger with "Destination Tokyo", primarily because of the ease with which Captain Cassidy (Cary Grant) made it into and out of Tokyo Harbor through the submarine net. There were the depth charges hurled at the sub to be sure, but the most they seemed to do was cause big bangs, some rocking, and the attendant leaks in the boat, but it never seemed to approach a life or death situation. The toy boats weren't very helpful in maintaining credibility either, only a notch above the ones you see in an old Japanese Godzilla movie.
It's not a bad movie though. I like Cary Grant and a handful of the other principals in the story. Alana Hale seems to pop up in a lot of these kinds of pictures, and he managed to do a nice little riff on the Cowardly Lion from "The Wizard of Oz" early in the picture. The appendicitis operation was based on an actual event which took place on the submarine USS Seadragon in September, 1942. The sailor who survived that operation died two years later in a freakish submarine accident.
The most poignant scene in the movie occurs with the death of Seaman Mike Connors (Tom Tully), stabbed by a Japanese aviator on a suicide mission. Fellow sailor 'Tin Can' (Dane Clark) offers a moving reason why he couldn't attend the burial at sea ceremony, helping his crewmates understand his hatred for the enemy. The one scene that was kind of puzzling occurred when Seaman Tommy Adams (Robert Hutton) mistakenly identified an albatross for an incoming enemy plane, forcing the sub to make a dive. The young sailor was remorseful, but if you watch the earlier scene, there were other sailors on deck who could have corrected his mistake.
It's not a bad movie though. I like Cary Grant and a handful of the other principals in the story. Alana Hale seems to pop up in a lot of these kinds of pictures, and he managed to do a nice little riff on the Cowardly Lion from "The Wizard of Oz" early in the picture. The appendicitis operation was based on an actual event which took place on the submarine USS Seadragon in September, 1942. The sailor who survived that operation died two years later in a freakish submarine accident.
The most poignant scene in the movie occurs with the death of Seaman Mike Connors (Tom Tully), stabbed by a Japanese aviator on a suicide mission. Fellow sailor 'Tin Can' (Dane Clark) offers a moving reason why he couldn't attend the burial at sea ceremony, helping his crewmates understand his hatred for the enemy. The one scene that was kind of puzzling occurred when Seaman Tommy Adams (Robert Hutton) mistakenly identified an albatross for an incoming enemy plane, forcing the sub to make a dive. The young sailor was remorseful, but if you watch the earlier scene, there were other sailors on deck who could have corrected his mistake.