I BOMBED PEARL HARBOR

[Randy Man]

Sorry, Stuart, no info on the comics, though I'm intrgued by the one who went by "Keaton Masuda".
If you don't mind I'd like to offer a completely parenthetical correction to your entry on I Bombed Pearl Harbor in your estimable Japanese Filmography. It's not true that Mifune was "erroneously billed" as Admiral Yamaguchi instead of Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto. Yamamoto isn't a character in this film and is only mentioned in passing toward the end. Admiral Yamaguchi, Mifune's character, was indeed the commander of the ill-fated Carrier Division 2 at Midway, composed of Soryu and Yamaguchi's flagship Hiryu, both of which were sunk. The character played by Yosuke Natsuki ("Lt. Koji Kitami") appears to be a composite of Minoru Genda and Mitsuo Fuchida, the lead pilots who planned the Pearl Harbor raid. Tora, Tora, Tora is a bit more factually accurate on these matters whatever its other failings as a film. So it's not a Hugo Grimaldi goof after all. The Ivy Video VHS tape available from Amazon.com is surprisingly good. It derives from an unfaded 35mm scope print of the English-dubbed version directed by Grimaldi (in the same sense that Terry Morse "directed" Godzilla King of the Monsters), but it would be interesting to know if there are any extant prints of the subtitled version distributed by Toho. The special effects - plane explosions, burning ships et al - are the work of Eiji Tsuburaya's team already famous for the Godzilla pictures.

Randolph Man
Moving Image Arts Dept.
The College of Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505
e-mail: ranman at csf.edu

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