Long dubbed TERRIBLE! TERRIBLE! TERRIBLE!, time has been relatively kind to this weirdly impersonal Pearl Harbor docu-drama. Seen now, especially in light of CGI overkill, much of the action has an impressive scale, a plush confidence in the combustible mass destruction coming after intermission. And if some of the cockpit scenes or the brightly lit acting spaces posing as ship decks & bridges betray themselves as soundstage mock-ups, they come and go quickly between military arguments that do a pretty good job parsing out strategies on either side of the Pacific. (With Stateside SNAFUs mercilessly exposed.) That split view was meant as the film’s big selling point, with no less than Akira Kurosawa taking on Japanese reins. No surprise he ankled before production got started (he still earns a story credit), and the trio of Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku & Toshio Masuda taking over with faceless competence, but little excitement or emotional engagement. It’s OKAY! OKAY! OKAY!
DOUBLE-BILL: Universal Studios followed up on this 20th/Fox production with MIDWAY/’76, a shoddy near sequel with the typically underwhelming Jack Smight directing a needlessly starry cast (Heston, Fonda, Mitchum, Glenn Ford, James Coburn, many more, even Toshirô Mifune!). OR: Skip both and go for Otto Preminger’s infinitely more entertaining/involving IN HARM’S WAY which wrecks Pearl Harbor in a reel & a half before moving on as the Navy licks its wounds and revs up for revenge. Another All-Star package, here given real acting opportunities.
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