is a 1942 black-and-white Japanese

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by Kajiro Yamamoto, with special effects by

Eiji Tsuburaya was a Japanese special effects director and cinematographer. Known as the he worked on 250 feature films in a career spanning 50 years. He is regarded as one of the co-creators of the ''Godzilla'' series, as well as the main creator of the ...

Plot

Production

''Hawai Mare oki kaisen'' was the most costly film made in Japan up to that time, costing over , when a typical film cost no more than $40,000. 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 attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

. The

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wo ...

are by

Reception

Box office

Within its first eight days at the Japanese box office, the film had grossed . According to

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer ...

, it was viewed by 100 million people in Japan and the country's occupied territories.

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.

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.

Accolades

Cast

Susumu Fujita Susumu Fujita () (8 January 1912 – 23 March 1991) was a Japanese film and television actor. He played the lead role in Akira Kurosawa's first feature, '' Sanshiro Sugata'', and appeared in other Kurosawa films including ''The Men Who Tread O ...

Setsuko Hara Setsuko (written: or in hiragana) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, later of Japan *, actress *, Japanese volleyball player *, Japanese actress and model *Setsuko Klossowska de Rola (born 1942), Japane ...

* Fumito Matsuo * Kunio Mita *

Denjirō Ōkōchi was a Japanese people, Japanese film actor best known for starring roles in jidaigeki directed by leading Japanese filmmakers. Early life and family Ōkōchi was born Masuo Ōbe on February 5, 1898, in Ōkōchi, Iwaya (present-day Ōkōchi, Buz ...

* Jiro Takano * Daihachiro Takebayashi *

Haruo Tanaka was a Japanese film actor noted for his supporting roles in a career that spanned seven decades. Career Tanaka was born in Kyoto and quit school in order to become a film actor, joining the Nikkatsu studio in 1925. He eventually moved up to seco ...

* Frank Tokunaga as Bunroku Tokunaga * Hiroshi Yamagawa

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya Japanese World War II propaganda films Japanese black-and-white films 1942 films Films directed by Kajiro Yamamoto 1942 war films Best Film Kinema Junpo Award winners Toho films