''Flight from Ashiya'' (aka ''Ashiya Kara no hiko'') is a 1964 film about the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

Air Rescue Service The United States Air Force Combat Rescue School (for most of its existence, either Air Rescue Service or Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service), was an organization of the United States Air Force. The school was established in 1946 as ''Air ...

, flying from Ashiya Air Base, Japan. In this fictionalized American-Japanese co-production film set in the early 1960s, a flight crew's mission is to rescue a liferaft of Japanese civilians stranded in rough seas. The film was based on the 1956 novel ''Rescue!'' by Elliott Arnold (repressed as ''Flight from Ashiya'' in 1959). It was released in Japan as ''Ashiya Kara no hiko''.

Plot

MSgt Mike Takashima (

Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in th ...

), Col Glenn Stevenson (

Richard Widmark Richard Weedt Widmark (December 26, 1914March 24, 2008) was an American film, stage, and television actor and producer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, ''Kiss of Death'' (1947) ...

) and 1st Lt John Gregg (

George Chakiris George Chakiris (born September 16, 1932) is an American actor. He is best known for his appearance in the 1961 film version of ''West Side Story'' as Bernardo Nunez, the leader of the Sharks gang, for which he won both the Academy Award for Be ...

), all members of the U. S. Air Force Air Rescue Service at Ashiya Air Base, Japan, set out to rescue the survivors of a Japanese ship wrecked in a still-raging storm. As they fly to the site of the wreck, each man recalls a part of his past: Gregg remembers the avalanche caused in Europe when his

Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw The Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw (company model number S-55) was a multi-purpose helicopter used by the United States Army and United States Air Force. It was also license-built by Westland Aircraft as the Westland Whirlwind in the United Kingdom ...

helicopter came too close to a mountain. The avalanche subsequently buried alive the group of people whom he was attempting to rescue. The accident has since caused him to fear flying solo. Stevenson, deeply prejudiced against the Japanese, recalls the reason for his hatred: as a civilian pilot in the Philippines prior to World War II, he met and married Caroline Gordon (

Shirley Knight Shirley Knight Hopkins (July 5, 1936 – April 22, 2020) was an American actress who appeared in more than 50 feature films, television films, television series, and Broadway and Off-Broadway productions in her career, playing leading and charac ...

). She and their infant son later died in a Japanese prison camp when they were refused medical supplies which were being saved for Japanese soldiers. Takashima, half-Polish (mother), half-Japanese (father), reminisces about his tragic love affair with Leila ( Danièle Gaubert), an Algerian girl, when he was an Army paratrooper during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He was unable to stop a bridge from being blown up, a bridge where Leila had run to look for him after learning that his unit was being withdrawn from town. Stevenson, Gregg and Takashima are the crew of the lead aircraft of a flight of two

Grumman HU-16 Albatross The Grumman HU-16 Albatross is a large, twin–radial engined amphibious seaplane that was used by the United States Air Force (USAF), the U.S. Navy (USN), and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), primarily as a search and rescue (SAR) aircraft. Origi ...

seaplanes dispatched to rescue the Japanese civilians at sea. When one HU-16 crashes in the rough seas, Stevenson refuses to jeopardize his aircraft for Japanese lives. At the last minute, however, he recalls Caroline's dying plea not to hate; he overcomes his prejudice. Takashima volunteered to parachute to the life rafts with rescue equipment. Stevenson and Gregg then land the aircraft at sea and rescue the survivors, but when Stevenson is injured in the landing, Gregg is forced to overcome his fear and handle the dangerous takeoff and the flight back to Ashiya.

Cast

as MSgt. Mike Takashima *

as Lt. Col. Glenn Stevenson *

as 2nd Lt. John Gregg *

Suzy Parker Suzy Parker (born Cecilia Ann Renee Parker; October 28, 1932 – May 3, 2003) was an American model and actress active from 1947 until 1970. Her modeling career reached its zenith during the 1950s, when she appeared on the covers of dozens of ma ...

as Lucille Caroll *

as Caroline Gordon / Stevenson * Danièle Gaubert as Leila * Eiko Taki as Tomiko * Joe Di Reda as SSgt. Randy Smith * Tom Korzeniowski as Sgt. Garrison * Mitsuhiro Sugiyama as Charlie * E.S. Ince as Capt. Walter Mound * Andrew Hughes as Dr. Horton * William Ross as Capt. Jerry Cooper * June Shelley (credited as June Elliott)

Production

Principal photography on ''Flight from Ashiya'' began on August 27, 1962, with a 12-week shooting schedule. Most of the sequences took place in Japan with air base exteriors filmed at the

Tachikawa Air Base is an airfield in the city of Tachikawa, the western part of Tokyo, Japan. Currently under the administration of the Ministry of Defense, it has also served as the civil aviation with Japan's first scheduled air service. History Origins Tach ...

, home to the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

39th Air Rescue Squadron. Two of the squadron's twin–

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ...

Grumman HU-16 Albatross amphibious flying boats were supplied to the production.

Reception

Film reviewer Howard Thompson in writing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', was scathing in his review of ''Flight From Ashiya'': "Occasionally, it's diverting to see just how consistently bad a picture can be. Anyone interested should catch 'Flight From Ashiya', which opened yesterday at the Palace and other Premiere Showcase theaters." Aviation film historian Stephen Pendo, in ''Aviation in the Cinema'' (1985) had a similar reaction; ''Flight from Ashiya'' was "dull" and ruined by "too many flashbacks."Pendo 1985, p. 28.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Beck, Simon D. ''The Aircraft-Spotter's Film and Television Companion''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2016. . * Orriss, Bruce. ''When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Post World War II Years''. Hawthorne, California: Aero Associates Inc., 2018. . * Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flight From Ashiya 1964 films American World War II films Japanese World War II films United Artists films American aviation films English-language Japanese films Films about seafaring accidents or incidents Films based on American novels Films directed by Michael Anderson Films set in the 1960s Films set in Fukuoka Prefecture Films set in the Pacific Ocean Films shot in Tokyo Films with screenplays by Waldo Salt Films produced by Harold Hecht Japan in non-Japanese culture Films about the United States Air Force Films about veterans 1960s English-language films 1960s American films 1960s Japanese films