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Rating: 7.5 stars

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Japan tku-tv pilots WWII island dogfight airplanes rescue

All movies seen on 08/19/2018

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Farewell Rabaul (1954)

Directed by Ishirō Honda

War | Drama

Most recently watched by sensoria

Overview

A squadron of Japanese fighter pilots realise that they are never going to win the war when they understand that Japanese military tactics have little regard for life. Seeking the companionship of any woman who will have them, they spend their days indulging in every fantasy in order to escape the overwhelming fear of death looming just over the horizon.

Length 105 minutes

Actors

Ryô Ikebe | Mariko Okada | Rentarô Mikuni | Chieko Nakakita | Akihiko Hirata | Akemi Negishi | Akira Kubo | Yû Fujiki | Kenji Sahara | Haruo Nakajima | Mayuri Mokushô | Bob Booth | Fuyuki Murakami | Akira Tani | Munenori Oyamada | Seijirô Onda | Etsuo Saijo | Masao Mizuno | Toyoaki Suzuki | 帯一郎 | Kiyoshi Kamoda | Masazumi Okabe | Shôichi Hirose | Saburô Kadowaki | Kimio Shimazaki | Yutaka Oka | Tsuneo Katagiri | Jun Mikami | Hideko Ebata | Kazumi Hanabusa | Kazuko Igarashi | Hiroko Terasawa | Yoko Ueno | Ryûtarô Amami | Kenzo Echigo | Haruya Sakamoto | Yutaka Sada | Masaaki Tachibana | Ichirô Chiba | Mitsuo Tsuda | Yasuhisa Tsutsumi | Mitsuo Matsumoto | Rinsaku Ogata | Hideo Shibuya | Minoru Itô | Masaki Shinohara | Ren Imaizumi | Kyôko Ozawa | Saeko Kuroiwa | Kôji Uruki | Junpei Natsuki

Viewing History (seen 2 times)

Viewing Notes

Finally able to see this thanks to DKU-TV programming it for their 3-year anniversary. Considered a “lost” film only because of its unavailability in the States. I’m wondering if Toho is holding back on the rights for distribution because of the message it conveys about the Japanese during war, which is powerful stuff about not valuing the lives of men (kamikaze pilots, no parachutes, inexperience, etc.).

All that aside this is a very good movie and one of Honda’s best for his directing and storytelling. Great acting and some emotional scenes really punctuate the main theme of desperation and hopelessness of fighting in war they will ultimately lose.

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