Tora

There could be no film more appropriate to open the Little Tokyo Cinema tonight than "Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy," which is No. 37 in the beloved, record-setting series. It's the perfect picture to provide continuity with the much-missed Kokusai Theatre, which the Little Tokyo now replaces.

Fighting between NATO forces and insurgents has erupted in the Afghan mountains of Tora Bora, best known as the rugged labyrinth where Osama bin Laden evaded U.S. capture nine years ago. The Western military and Afghan officials said Wednesday that the district of Pachir Agam, in the eastern province of Nangarhar near the Pakistan border, had become a staging ground for Taliban and other fighters preparing attacks on NATO and Afghan troops....

"Tora-san's Salad Date Memorial" (at the Little Tokyo Cinema 1) takes its curious title from a young girl's poem in tribute to the lovable itinerant peddler, written after she has prepared a tossed salad for him. If that title sounds awkward in English, nothing else about this endearing film is. Indeed, it is a double milestone, as it is No. 40 in the series, which is now 20 years old.

Eight years ago this month, Osama bin Laden walked out of the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan and disappeared into Pakistan. U.S. intelligence agencies have no real idea where he is today, but it is clear that the world's most wanted man and the terrorist organization he leads have reemerged as a powerful force behind the increasingly deadly insurgencies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three senior Obama administration officials warned last week that Al Qaeda is more dangerous than at any time in the last 18 months.

He dances in the alley when the music's right, remembering the days when he made machine guns during the week and in his off hours slipped on a satin shirt and black-and-white shoes and gathered a band of horn blowers to play weddings along the Nile. He was the singer, a high-rise hairdo and a voice to match. The neighborhood knew him, but the neighborhood pretty much knew everybody; still, Saber Saad felt special, microphone in hand, his two-tones tapping in the lights, the wind carrying his music through marsh grass and out to the desert, dying somewhere beneath the stars.

June Dayton Harens, 70, a Broadway, film and television actress perhaps best remembered for her role as Mary Aldrich in Paramount's Henry Aldrich films. Born Mary June Wetzel in Dayton, Ohio, she took the name of her hometown as her stage name. Mrs. Harens appeared on Broadway in such plays as "Tenting Tonight," "The Ivy Green" and "One Shoe Off." As television developed in the 1950s, she acted in several respected programs including "Studio One," "Philco Playhouse" and "The Kraft Theater."

John McCain will be the host of AMC cable network's Memorial Day weekend marathon of movies celebrating war heroes. The former prisoner of war and Republican presidential candidate will introduce movies such as "Midway," "Patton," "The Longest Day," "Hamburger Hill," "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Battle of the Bulge." -- Associated Press

The Little Tokyo Cinemas, 333 South Alameda in downtown Los Angeles, which were to open Friday, failed to pass fire inspection, said a theater official. The two new theaters are now scheduled to open May 22, with "Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy" and a revival of "The Castle of Sand."

I sympathize with the plight of the younger generation of Japanese Americans who are being thrust into the spotlight as a result of the movie "Pearl Harbor" and their discomfort with being the possible object of ridicule, ostracism or worse (" 'Pearl Harbor' Making Its Marks," by Erika Hayasaki, May 29). I hope and am confident that the vast majority of Americans have overcome their animosity toward the Japanese and realize that the Japanese actions in World War II were of a different time and mind-set.

Charles F. Wheeler, a cinematographer for half a century who was nominated for an Academy Award for "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and for an Emmy for the CBS television movie "Babe," about athlete Mildred Zaharias, has died. Wheeler, 88, died Thursday in the city of Orange. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease. To make the 1970 "Tora! Tora! Tora!"

He dances in the alley when the music's right, remembering the days when he made machine guns during the week and in his off hours slipped on a satin shirt and black-and-white shoes and gathered a band of horn blowers to play weddings along the Nile. He was the singer, a high-rise hairdo and a voice to match. The neighborhood knew him, but the neighborhood pretty much knew everybody; still, Saber Saad felt special, microphone in hand, his two-tones tapping in the lights, the wind carrying his music through marsh grass and out to the desert, dying somewhere beneath the stars.

John McCain will be the host of AMC cable network's Memorial Day weekend marathon of movies celebrating war heroes. The former prisoner of war and Republican presidential candidate will introduce movies such as "Midway," "Patton," "The Longest Day," "Hamburger Hill," "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Battle of the Bulge." -- Associated Press

The U.S. military received "credible reporting" of a sizable Taliban force at Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan before launching the latest offensive there, a top American general said Thursday. Army Lt. Gen. Carter F. Ham, director for operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there was no indication of Al Qaeda fighters, contrary to U.S. officials' reports Wednesday.

Hundreds of U.S.-led troops have begun a major offensive against suspected Al Qaeda fighters hiding in the mountains of the Tora Bora region near the Pakistan border, U.S. military officials said Wednesday. The rugged area in eastern Nangarhar province was the scene of a prolonged assault in late 2001 by U.S.-led forces unsuccessfully targeting Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks. Coalition spokeswoman Army Capt. Vanessa R.

Richard Fleischer picked up the phone more than half a century ago and was stunned. Walt Disney was on the line, asking him to direct "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." "You do know who I am?" Fleischer recalled asking. His father, animation pioneer Max Fleischer, who created Betty Boop and popularized Popeye, was a bitter rival of Disney's. Even though the Disney name was not spoken in their home, Fleischer's father told him the opportunity was too important to pass up.

Osama bin Laden was given safe passage to Pakistan in 2001 by Afghan commanders paid by Al Qaeda and sympathetic to the terrorist network's cause, a senior Afghan official said Wednesday. Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said commanders had helped the Al Qaeda leader escape from the Tora Bora mountains near the Pakistani border as U.S. warplanes and Afghan forces attacked his hide-out in late 2001.

Richard Fleischer picked up the phone more than half a century ago and was stunned. Walt Disney was on the line, asking him to direct "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." "You do know who I am?" Fleischer recalled asking. His father, animation pioneer Max Fleischer, who created Betty Boop and popularized Popeye, was a bitter rival of Disney's. Even though the Disney name was not spoken in their home, Fleischer's father told him the opportunity was too important to pass up.

Eight years ago this month, Osama bin Laden walked out of the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan and disappeared into Pakistan. U.S. intelligence agencies have no real idea where he is today, but it is clear that the world's most wanted man and the terrorist organization he leads have reemerged as a powerful force behind the increasingly deadly insurgencies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three senior Obama administration officials warned last week that Al Qaeda is more dangerous than at any time in the last 18 months.

Charles F. Wheeler, a cinematographer for half a century who was nominated for an Academy Award for "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and for an Emmy for the CBS television movie "Babe," about athlete Mildred Zaharias, has died. Wheeler, 88, died Thursday in the city of Orange. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease. To make the 1970 "Tora! Tora! Tora!"

Canadian troops of the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism explored the caves and graves of the December battlefield in Tora Bora but returned Tuesday with little expectation of resolving the mystery of Osama bin Laden's whereabouts. The Canadian forces, backed by U.S. forensic experts, brought back DNA samples from 23 bodies found at a burial site believed to hold victims of the ferocious U.S. bombing during the campaign in the mountains east of Jalalabad.