1941

CinemaSerf

6/10

8/9/2026

Anyone remember "The Mouse that Roared" (1959)? Well this reminded me of that, only nowhere near as good or funny. Days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese submarine that probably couldn't find it's own way back home stumbles into Los Angeles harbour. Shame prohibits them from returning home without some sort of victory honour, so they decide to decimate Hollywood. Meantime, tempers and hormones are running high in the city with the sailors and the soldiers all getting set for a jingoistic battle royal whilst hoping to pull the odd chick or two along the way. As captain "Mitamura" (Toshiro Mifune) selects his target the local equivalent of "Dad's Army" are atop the ferris wheel keeping watch - but what chance they will spot their intruder? The dancehall is packed to the rafters for a radio competition with quite a grand prize, and that's where "Stretch" (Treat Williams) is vying with the nimble on his feet "Wally" (Bobby Di Circo) for the attentions of a gal whilst the madcap "Wild Bill" (John Belushi) patrols the skies desparate for a kill. With these scenes now set, the slapstick now goes into overdrive and Steven Spielberg decides to take us on a messy series of escapades that evolve from the timid mouse to more of a no-expense spared nightmare for the set builders, the paint-tin fillers and just about anyone who lives or works in a city that is soon being destroyed far more effectively but it's own side than it ever could have been by the enemy. Now if you like your comedy chaotic, fairly puerile and rapid-fire the this ought to do nicely. I don't really and with the possible exception of Christopher Lee in the unlikely role of a Nazi U-boat captain disdainfully observing his Imperial counterpart, I lost interest in this quite quickly. Some of the sequences, especially the dancing, seem to go on interminably and I felt the whole film simply ran out of ideas after about half an hour. Worryingly, it ends as if a sequel could have been on the cards - I was left with a sinking feeling, and not in a good way either! Wasn't for me, sorry.