Back to Bataan (1945)

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

Ben Barzman (screenplay) and
Richard H. Landau (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

31 May 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

SEE! American landings on Leyte! Cabanatuan prisoners freed in spectacular Yankee raid! (original poster)

Plot:

The US Army's defense of its Philippines colony and the allied Malay countries/colonies behind it counted...

Plot Keywords:

Philippines | Guerrilla | Grandson | Japan | Captain

Cast

John Wayne	...	Col. Joseph Madden
Anthony Quinn	...	Capt. Andrés Bonifácio
Beulah Bondi	...	Bertha Barnes
Fely Franquelli	...	Dalisay Delgado
Richard Loo	...	Maj. Hasko
Philip Ahn	...	Col. Coroki
Alex Havier	...	Sgt. Bernessa (as J. Alex Havier)
'Ducky' Louie	...	Maximo Cuenca
Lawrence Tierney	...	Lt. Cmdr. Waite
Leonard Strong	...	Gen. Homma
Paul Fix	...	Bindle Jackson
Abner Biberman	...	Japanese Captain
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Señor Buenaventura J. Bello
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Erville Alderson	...	Teacher (uncredited)
Spencer Chan	...	Japanese Man (uncredited)
W.T. Chang	...	Leader (uncredited)
Robert Clarke	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Roger Cole	...	Wainwright's Aide (uncredited)
Angelo Cruz	...	Cruz (uncredited)
Pat Davis	...	Aide (uncredited)
Tony Dell	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Abe Dinovitch	...	Singer (uncredited)
Marcello Estorres	...	Priest (uncredited)
Tommy Estrella	...	Second Guerrilla (uncredited)
Benson Fong	...	Officer Making Broadcast (uncredited)
Harold Fong	...	Prince Ito (uncredited)
H.W. Gim	...	Japanese Secret Agent (uncredited)
Edmund Glover	...	(uncredited)
Erick Hanson	...	Wainwright's Aide (uncredited)
Joseph Kim	...	Sgt. Osami (uncredited)
Pauline Lang	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Jung Lim	...	Japanese General (uncredited)
Jimmy Lono	...	Filipino Priest (uncredited)
Leon Lontoc	...	First Guerrilla (uncredited)
Kenneth MacDonald	...	Maj. McKinley (uncredited)
Michael Mark	...	Señor O'Bordo (uncredited)
John Miljan	...	Gen. Jonathan Wainwright ('Skinny') (uncredited)
Andy Nocon	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Ted O'Shea	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Carmen Padilla	...	Marie (uncredited)
Ray Teal	...	Lt. Col. Roberts (uncredited)
Bill Williams	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Edward Dmytryk

Writing credits
Ben Barzman		(screenplay) and
Richard H. Landau		(screenplay)
Æneas MacKenzie		(original story) (as Aeneas Mac Kenzie) and
William Gordon		(original story)

Produced by
Robert Fellows	....	executive producer
Theron Warth	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Roy Webb

Cinematography by
Nicholas Musuraca		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Marston Fay

Art Direction by
Ralph Berger
Albert S. D'Agostino

Set Decoration by
Charles Nields
Darrell Silvera

Costume Design by
Renié		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Charles Gemora	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Dewey Starkey	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ruby Rosenberg	....	assistant director

Sound Department
James G. Stewart	....	rerecording
Earl A. Wolcott	....	recordist

Special Effects by
Vernon L. Walker	....	special effects

Music Department
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director
Max Steiner	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
George S. Clarke	....	technical advisor (as Colonel George S. Clarke U.S.A.)
Sid Davis	....	stand-in: John Wayne (uncredited)

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures (presents)

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1945) (USA) (theatrical)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1950) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV)
• Image Entertainment (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• RKO Radio Films (1954) (Finland) (theatrical)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1954) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Standard Films (194?) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Suomi-Filmi (1964) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Castle Video (????) (Finland) (video)
• Future Film (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Gerit (????) (Finland) (video)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (uncut) (1954) | Finland:K-16 (heavily cut) (1954) | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12 (f) | USA:Approved (certificate #10576) | UK:PG | Germany:12 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Philippines

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

The first 10 notes of "Lupang Hinirang", the Philippine National Anthem was played during the vehicular ambush scene against the Japanese by the Philippine Guerrillas

Goofs:

Factual errors: Imperial General Headquarters regarded Homma as not aggressive enough in war (resulting in the high cost and long delay in securing the American and Filipino forces' surrender), and too lenient with the Filipino people in peace, and he was subsequently removed from his post on June 9th 1942 and returned to Japan. In the movie when they are discussing the possibility of Filipino independence with Dalisay Delgado, Homma, would have been in Japan at this point in time.

Quotes:

Maj. Hasko:I send out 100 men, they find nothing. I send out ten men, they don't come back.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The John Wayne Anthology (1991) (TV)

Get those Japs!

Realistic based movie which effecively encapsulates the brutality of the Japanese during that time in the Philippines.The Philippines had basic commonality with the U.S. in basic philosophies like CHRISTIANITY(Theology) and DEMOCRACY(Politics) and this was the reason why the Japanese miss-calculated when they thought they could win the Filipinos over to their side with the propaganda they spewed forth regarding the Japanese/Filipino Asian bond.It was a very big mess and the Japanese just could not figure it out.The Filipinos just despised all the Japanese stood for no matter how noble their cause was supposed to be.This movie delivers and is ahead of it's time with gritty battle scenes and not over doing the Hollywood compromise bit.The main flaw here was the casting of Quinn as a Filipino.I am sure even at that time there were a lot of able Filipino studs who could hadle the role of Andres Bonifacio's grandson.A movie like this which emphasizes Filipino freedom and equality should have at least casted Filipino's on equal terms.Quinn did a very good job of it though,amazingly capturing the mannerisms of a typical modern Spanish Filipino well enough to pull it off.....