The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya

The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya (ハワイ・マレー沖海戦, Hawai Mare Oki Kaisen) is a 1942 black-and-white Japanese war film directed by Kajiro Yamamoto, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.

The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKajiro Yamamoto
Written byKajiro Yamamoto
Produced byNobuyoshi Morita
CinematographyAkira Mimura
Edited byFusao Hata
Music bySeiichi Suzuki
Production
company
Distributed byFilm Distribution Corporation
Release date
  • December 3, 1942 (1942-12-03) (Japan)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Budget¥1 million[1][lower-alpha 1]

Plot

In 1936, Imperial Japanese Navy pilot Tadaaki Tachibana (Akira Nakamura) visits his aunt's farm, where younger cousin Yoshikazu Tomoda (Kaoru Itō) expresses his wish to become a pilot. Tadaaki encourages Yoshikazu only after challenging him to a cliff jump.

Yoshikazu undergoes basic training from 1937, participating in rowing, kendō, wrestling, and rugby. His drill instructor introduces the notion of facing adversity with the proper "spirit". One morning, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident is reported in the cadets' newspaper. The cadets intensify their training as the events of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Second World War in Europe unfold. Their drill instructor declares that the situation in China may only be resolved through the defeat of the United States and the British Empire.

After a brief visit to his family, Yoshikazu progresses to training as a fighter pilot. He experiences survivor guilt when another cadet dies during a training exercise aboard an aircraft carrier. Tadaaki advises him not to give up his training, citing his own experiences in the military. Yoshikazu's sister Kikuko (Setsuko Hara) is concerned about the explosion of a world war, but informs him that their mother has accepted his decision to fight.

In late 1941, Yoshikazu is among those aboard an aircraft carrier destined for Pearl Harbor, although their mission is not immediately clear. As the pilots prepare for the attack, the officers listen for results over an American radio station. The mission is portrayed as a success: the torpedoes hit their intended target ships, and reinforcements engage in a dogfight with USAAF fighter planes. However, in a "precious sacrifice", one damaged Japanese plane crashes into an American hangar.

Meanwhile in Japanese-occupied French Indochina, a separate unit receives a briefing concerning the movements of HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales. An initial attempt to bomb the ships during their nighttime departure from Singapore is aborted. Despite the ships leaving the range of the bombers, their crews are instructed to re-attempt the mission. The crew of one bomber, acknowledging that they lack the fuel to return home, proceeds with the attack on the British fleet. This mission too is successful, although the Prince of Wales incidentally sinks after the bomber runs out of ammunition.

Yoshikazu's family listens to a report of the attack on the radio, as do the officers aboard the aircraft carrier. One officer expresses his pleasure at Japan's strategic position.

Production
Film making; miniature set of the Pearl Harbor and American warships

Hawai Mare oki kaisen was the most costly film made in Japan up to that time, costing over $380,000, when a typical film cost no more than $40,000.[4][5] It used special effects and miniature models to create realistic battle scenes. These were intercut with genuine newsreel material to make the appearance of a documentary. The film was released during the week of the first anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The special effects are by Eiji Tsuburaya.[6]

Reception

Box office

Within its first eight days at the Japanese box office, the film had grossed ¥1,115,000.[3] According to Toho, it was viewed by 100 million people in Japan and the country's occupied territories.[7]

Critical response

Joseph L. Anderson comments that Hawai Mare oki kaisen was "representative of the national-policy films", with the aim of dramatizing "the Navy Spirit as culminated at Pearl Harbor." Critics at the time considered it the best film of 1942.[4]

Douglas MacArthur's response

The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya was confiscated by Supreme Command Allied Powers after the war, who mistook it for genuine news footage of the attack, and it was released by Movietone as such.[4][5]

Accolades
Award Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Kinema Junpo Awards Best Picture Award The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya Won [8]
Japan Motion Picture Cinematographers Association Visual Effects Eiji Tsuburaya Won [8]

Cast

See also

Notes
  1. The film had a production budget of ¥770,000, with advertising costing an additional ¥150,000.[2][3] Joseph L. Anderson stated that its budget was over US$380,000.[4]

References
  1. 映画渡世・地の巻 マキノ雅弘自伝 [Film Passage: Earth Volume: Autobiography of Masahiro Makino] (in Japanese). Heibonsha. 2002. ISBN 978-4582282023.
  2. Tanaka, Jun'ichirō (1957). 日本映画発逹史 [History of the Origin of Japanese Cinema] (in Japanese). Vol. 2. Chuokoron-Shinsha. p. 322.
  3. Hirano, Kyōko (20 January 1998). 天皇と接吻 アメリカ占領下の日本映画検閲 [The Emperor and the Kiss: Japanese Film Censorship Under U.S. Occupation] (in Japanese). p. 327. ISBN 9784794207760.
  4. Anderson, Joseph L. (1982). The Japanese Film: Art and Industry. Princeton University Press. p. 131. ISBN 0-691-00792-6.
  5. McDonald, Jason (2007). "Hawai Mare Oki Kaisen". Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  6. IMDB: Cast. Accessed 19 January 2009
  7. Ryfle, Steve; Godziszewski, Ed (2017). Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa. Wesleyan University Press. p. 30. ISBN 9780819570871.
  8. Ragone, August (6 May 2014). Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters (paperback ed.). Chronicle Books. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-4521-3539-7.
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