Guadalcanal Diary (1943)

Director:

Lewis Seiler

Writers:

Lamar Trotti (screenplay)
Jerome Cady (adaptation)

Release Date:

27 October 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Plot:

Concentrating on the personal lives of those involved, a war correspondent takes us through the preparations...

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Guadalcanal | War Correspondent | War Footage | American Soldier

Cast

Preston Foster	...	Father Donnelly
Lloyd Nolan	...	Gunnery Sgt. Hook Malone
William Bendix	...	Cpl. Aloysius T. 'Taxi' Potts
Richard Conte	...	Capt. Don Davis
Anthony Quinn	...	Pvt. Jesus ('Soose') Alvarez
Richard Jaeckel	...	Pvt. Johnny ('Chicken') Anderson
Roy Roberts	...	Capt. James Cross
Minor Watson	...	Col. Wallace E. Grayson
Ralph Byrd	...	Ned Rowman
Lionel Stander	...	Sgt. Butch
Reed Hadley	...	War correspondent / Narrator
John Archer	...	Lt. Thurmond

Also Known As:

Richard Tregaskis' Guadalcanal Diary (USA) (poster title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG | Netherlands:12 | USA:Approved | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, Oceanside, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Guadalcanal is situated in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. Its local name is Isatabu and contains the country's capital, Honiara. The island is humid and mostly made up of jungle with a surface area of 2,510 square miles or 6,500-km². Guadacanal was named after Pedro de Ortega's home town Guadacanal in Andalusia, Spain. de Ortega worked under Álvaro de Mendaña who charted the island in 1568.

Goofs:

Factual errors: One of the Japanese soldiers is carrying a US Krag rifle from 1892.

Quotes:

Cpl. Aloysius T. 'Taxi' Potts: Hey, Butch. Ya got a cigarette?
Sgt. Butch: [hands him a pack] Sure. Help yourself.
Cpl. Aloysius T. 'Taxi' Potts: [examines the pack] Jap cigarettes!
Sgt. Butch: Yeah. They're half tobacco, half stinkweed.
Cpl. Aloysius T. 'Taxi' Potts: Oh, well now I'll enjoy them more than ever. I thought they were *all* stinkweed.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Indie Sex: Censored (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Chattanooga Choo Choo

Terse and violent, close in atmosphere and technique to "Wake Island".

Guadalcanal is the second largest island (after Bougainville) of the Solomons and largest of the Solomon Islands Protectorate southwest Pacific...

During World War II it was the scene of bitter land and sea fighting between U. S. and Japanese forces...

On August 1942, the U.S. Marines, in the Allies' first major offensive in the Pacific, seized a Japanese airfield, Henderson Field, on the island...

On November, in a naval engagement, the Allies prevented the Japanese from landing reinforcements... By February 1943 the Japanese, badly outnumbered, were forced to evacuate Guadalcanal and by the end of the year they were on the defensive in their last stronghold in the Solomons, Bougainville Island...

"Guadalcanal Diary" is based on the best-selling book by war correspondent Richard Tregaskis... It follows the career of a platoon of Marines from Pre-landing shipboard briefings through two months slow murderous fighting in the taking of the South Sea jungles...

The film gives a realistic view of the hardships of war, and has its moments... Perhaps the most touching scene is at the climax when the tired veterans watch the fresh, green troops marching past them... The feeling is one of a continuous hard effort... The impudent newcomers have yet to face the revolting horrors that an American soldier is subjected to... Certainly, they will fight as well as those before them, however, we cannot but help feeling sad for those who will never return...

The film reveals the hard life in camps, shelters, patrols, hospitals, beaches and jungles in absolute reality... It is terse, violent, close in atmosphere and technique to "Wake Island" (1942).