Bataan (1943)

Director:

Tay Garnett

Writer:

Robert Hardy Andrews (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 April 1944 (Sweden)

Genre:

War

Tagline:

THE STORY OF A PATROL OF 13 HEROES

Plot:

Japan has just invaded the Phillipines and the US Army attempts a desperate defence. Thirteen men are...

Plot Keywords:

U.S. Army | Bridge | Japan | Bataan | Attack

Cast

Robert Taylor	...	Sergeant Bill Dane
George Murphy	...	Lieut. Steve Bentley
Thomas Mitchell	...	Corp. Jake Feingold
Lloyd Nolan	...	Corp. Barney Todd
Lee Bowman	...	Capt. Henry Lassiter
Robert Walker	...	Leonard Purckett
Desi Arnaz	...	Felix Ramirez
Barry Nelson	...	F.X. Matowski
Phillip Terry	...	Matthew Hardy
Roque Espiritu	...	Corp. Juan Katigbak
Kenneth Spencer	...	Wesley Eeps
Alex Havier	...	Yankee Salazar (as J. Alex Havier)
Tom Dugan	...	Sam Malloy
Donald Curtis	...	Lieutenant

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish | Latin

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Norway:16 | Canada:14A (video rating) | Finland:K-16 (1964) | Finland:S (1945) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #9122) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

The Call Bureau Cast Service lists Lynne Carver and Dorothy Morris as "Nurses", but they were not identifiable in the movie, although one nurse is seen from the rear and another in long-shot. Also Richard Derr was said to be a cast member and Mary Elliott a "Nurse" in contemporary news items; they also were not seen in the movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: Although the American soldier may have been a great coconut tree climber, it is nigh on impossible to sit atop a coconut tree. Many Filipinos to this day fall when attempting this.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

St. Louis Blues

An Unusual War Movie

For a war movie, this was a bit unusual in that almost the whole film took part in one place. You could almost make a play out of this. A group of men stay in one area trying to sabotage a bridge so the Japanese can't use it to transport supplies. Meanwhile, they have to fend off attacks by the enemy. The closing scenes feature that attack and some are quite brutal.

At least half of the story is not action but melodramatic looks at the soldiers, particularly of the squad's sergeant leader Robert Taylor and one of his men who has an attitude problem: Lloyd Nolan. We also get some shorter profiles of combat men played by Robert Walker, Thomas Mitchell and Desi Arnez (yes, Lucy's husband).

The special effects are more than passable considering they weren't too advanced in the film industry compared to today's technology. However, credibility was a little thin as those Japanese soldiers died awfully fast in those combat scenes at the end. I swear I saw several of them drop over before anyone hit them!

Taylor was the best in this movie "army" and Walker was the annoying character, playing an extremely young and generally stupid Navy guy (don't ask) who never stopped talking in this irritating voice. Other than his character, this was a tough, no-nonsense war movie.