Cry 'Havoc' (1943)

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Allan Kenward (play)
Paul Osborn (screenplay)

Release Date:

February 1944 (USA)

Genre:

War | Drama

Tagline:

AMERICAN WOMEN OF TODAY (original ad - all caps)

Plot:

The Army nurses on Bataan need help badly, but when it arrives, it sure isn't what they expected. A motley crew...

Plot Keywords:

Nurse | Cook | Malaria | Romantic Rivalry | Plane Crash

Cast

Margaret Sullavan	...	Lt. Mary Smith
Ann Sothern	...	Pat Conlin
Joan Blondell	...	Grace Lambert
Fay Bainter	...	Capt. Alice Marsh
Marsha Hunt	...	Flo Norris
Ella Raines	...	Connie Booth
Frances Gifford	...	Helen Domeret
Diana Lewis	...	Nydia Joyce
Heather Angel	...	Andra West
Dorothy Morris	...	Sue West
Connie Gilchrist	...	Sadie - Cook
Gloria Grafton	...	Steve Polden
Fely Franquelli	...	Luisita Esperito

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #9538) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Pico, Montebello, California, USA

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

Although Karl Freund is credited on screen as director of photography, Hal Rosher is listed for this job in all Hollywood Reporter production charts.

Quotes:

Flo Norris: They say after you've been in the army for a while you can do anything a horse does.
Helen Domeret: I don't *want* to do what a horse does.

Soundtrack:

Blues in the Night

"They're All So Young and Pretty"

WWII curiosity—an all female cast, and those men that do briefly appear are wounded servicemen dependent on the women. The girls are nurses in a field hospital in the Phillipines just as the islands are falling to the Japanese. They're volunteers recruited at the last minute as the bombs are falling. So we wonder how well these comely civilians in their mascara and lipstick will perform under extreme battlefield conditions.

Good cast. But somehow the movie doesn't live up to the material's potential. As I see it, the problem lies with director Thorpe who films the dramatics from an impersonal distance as if it were still the stage play from which the movie was adapted. With the basically single set where the girls live, there's not much room to move about. So when the bombs fall or one of the girls freaks out, close-ups of personal reactions are needed, not a continuing group scene that disperses the emotion. There's a ton of dramatic material to engage with here, but too much is allowed to impersonally slip by.

Nonetheless, it is an entertaining cast, especially the two dames, Blondell and Sothern. They're natural rivals with their sassy wisecracking that keep the audience amused amid the grimness. Sullavan with her husky voice and domineering demeanor makes an unusual screen presence, as does the rail-thin, sharply intelligent Marsha Hunt. I just wish the Japanese planes had let Blondell finish her mock striptease.

The play was put together in 1942, the war's darkest period. This 1943 movie reflects many of these somber prospects, and is thus of some historical interest. Clearly, the purpose is to show that the girls can rise to wartime challenge as well as the boys, and by focusing on the women, we know the spirit comes from them and not from some male overseer. This is one of the few WWII films that really had me guessing about the ending. As it turns out, I failed. Nonetheless, there's enough suspense and good acting to make up for the parts that now (perhaps thankfully) seem dated and distant.