oliverdearlove
This is a terrible film and not about the Battle of the Coral Sea - one of the five carriers battles of the Pacific War.The idea is laughable - motley POWs being abused so that the commanding officer will give up information. In the event I think the Kempetei ( Imperial Secret Police ) would just have beaten it out of him. The reality was the allied POWs were terribly badly treated.Read a book or watch a cartoon instead.The only true fact I could glean was that there WAS a secret treaty between Vichy France and Japan after May 1940 that the Japanese would march in unopposed to the French Far East Empire ( Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to be) and in return French Nationals there would not be interned. Hence Miss Phillips - I didn't pay enough attention to see if it came out in the film
bkoganbing
Just in case you're wondering Battle Of The Coral Sea has absolutely nothing to do with the Pacific Allies engaging the Japanese Fleet from May 4 to 8, 1942. The title should not lead you to expect to get a film like The Longest Day or Midway which are factual docudramas about those battles. The Coral Sea battle does deserve such a film and maybe an American or Australian film maker will do such a film some day. This ain't it.This is instead about Cliff Robertson and his submarine sent on a scouting expedition to find out Japanese intentions. They do find out, but the submarine is destroyed and Robertson and his crew are taken prisoner. After that the film plot line is one of escape as Robertson, his surviving crew members and some Aussie prisoners are also looking to break out. Along for the ride is Gia Scala daughter of a French plantation owner who is Japanese speaking and serves as interpreter. She's surviving the best she can by coyly alleging Vichy sympathies.What Robertson might have been doing is anyone's guess because we knew of Japanese intentions having broken the Japanese code. So the film is false on the face of it. Add to that Robertson's rather unbelievable escape, similar to Errol Flynn and his crew in Desperate Journey. Hopefully one day we'll get the real story of the Coral Sea. Demand it rather than this be the film that purportedly tells it.
laborlaw
First, the movie had virtually nothing to do with the Coral Sea Battle which was a tactical Japanese victory (the US lost more ships) but also a strategic defeat for them (they had to give up their planned invasion of Port Moresby in New Guinea).Second, the movie is almost wholly unrelated to any history of the time.Third, good grief, at least get something about submarine operations correct. No sub commander in his right mind would leave a periscope up like these dodos do, certainly not with that kind of forward speed. No submariner would go speeding along in such shallow water but of course they show this kind of stupidity in every sub movie.As an aside, two US sub captains were captured in WWII. The captain of the Robalo, Manning Kimmel (son of the naval commander at Pearl Harbor on December 7) apparently survived after his boat struck a mine but died in captivity shortly thereafter. Richard O'Kane, arguably the most successful US sub commander in WWII was captured after his sub was sunk by it's own torpedo (circular run). He received the Medal of Honor after the war.
bcolquho
This movie is the prequel to the 1976 movie Midway. On May 8, 1942, the Allies won the first major battle of the Pacific War. The Battle of the Coral Sea was technically a draw but it saw a number of firsts_____for example_____it was the first battle fought inwhich both sides never saw each other. It was a carrier battle. The first carrier battle actually. Japan lost the carrier Junyo and a destroyer. The United States, surprisingly enough, lost only one carrier, the converted battle cruiser Lexington, and one severely damaged. The Yorktown, which will go down a month later at Midway.
AD
