The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malay

[Patrick Alan]

This Thread is to discuss Hawai Mare oki kaisen (ハワイ・マレー沖海戦) or The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malay the 1942 black-and-white Toho film.

[Cimmerian Dragon]

I responded to this in the "What Toho film are you watching" thread, but what the hell. I'm moving my post over here, since we have a thread for the film, now.

I can't get enough of this movie, it's so moving. And I haven't even heard of this movie until recently, I'm suprised no one on Toho Kingdom has talked about this film yet. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035533/

It could simply be because watching Imperial Japan blow the living hell out out of people is not a enjoyable time at the movies for a lot of folks.

Don't get me wrong, though, that's not to say it isn't a decent film. I loved Yamato, for example, despite it taking on similar historical material. The difference though, is the date of production. Yamato is a modern film, produced in retrospect long after the full nature of Japan's WWII campaigns had been revealed to the world. The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya was produced in 1942, and so it will always carry the distinct aura of a propaganda film produced while untold tortures and atrocities were being committed by the Japanese military in East Asia. The average Japanese soldier was most likely unaware of this, of course, and so we should be careful not to demonize them along with their leadership. However, we shouldn't expect film buffs to be able to totally quarantine that knowledge in the back of their minds while they watch a war film, either.

One thing we can all agree on? The special effects in The War at Sea are absolutely incredible. Check out this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... H_c#t=258s

And though it isn't Toho (Toei was Fox's Japanese partner), for the most thoroughly researched film version of the Pearl Harbor attack, everyone should see Tora, Tora, Tora.

[Patrick Alan]

Thank you Cimmerian Dragon for that video

[Cimmerian Dragon]

I wish I had a better clip, since that one is so fuzzy. I only have a grey-market VHS copy of the film, or I'd rip a decent looking scene myself.

[The H-Man]

It covers the war from "Hawaii to Malay", so I'm guessing that it leaves off before the battles of Coral Sea and Midway because they'd want to downplay any defeats.

And "Tora Tora Tora" is a great film, far superior to the stupid late 90's "Pearl Harbor"