Back to Bataan (1945)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

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

Release Date:

31 May 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Guerrilla | Philippines | Japan | Captain | Independence

Cast

John Wayne	...	Col. Joseph Madden
Anthony Quinn	...	Capt. Andrés Bonifácio
Beulah Bondi	...	Bertha Barnes
Fely Franquelli	...	Dolici Dalgado
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	...	(uncredited)
W.T. Chang	...	Leader (uncredited)
Robert Clarke	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Benson Fong	...	Officer making broadcast (uncredited)
Harold Fong	...	Prince Ito (uncredited)
Edmund Glover	...	(uncredited)
Kenneth MacDonald	...	Maj. McKinley (uncredited)
Michael Mark	...	Chief of Police (uncredited)
John Miljan	...	Gen. Jonathan Wainwright ('Skinny') (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)

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
Colonel 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)
• Suomi-Filmi (1964) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Castle Video (????) (Finland) (video)
• Future Film (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Gerit Oy (????) (Finland) (video)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

The Invisible Army

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

Philippines

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

The character Andres Bonifacio played by Anthony Quinn is supposed to be the grandson of Andres Bonifacio, a leader of the Philippine revolt against Spain in the late 19th century. The real Andres Bonifacio's only child died of smallpox, so he had no grandchildren.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Plugs can be seen in the barrels of the Thompson sub-machine guns which make them fire fully automatically with blank rounds.

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)

Back to Bataan

I agree that this is a terrific movie, and by "History vs. Hollywood" standards rates fairly high. The point of the movie is to characterize the Japanese soldiers as brutal and often sadistic in their treatment of the enemy. In the history of modern warfare, the Japanese in WWII were by far the most inhumane. There is nothing in this movie that is unfair in the portrayal of Japanese treatment of Filipinos. Later, American and other Allied POW's were subjected to even worse horrors. The film also correctly characterizes the Filipinos as tough, hard fighters, and unfortunate victims of a superior Imperialist (militarist) society, which was run by the Japanese Army, and victimized with extreme prejudice. I will disagree with one contributor to this forum who offers that the brutal treatment of Filipinos was one of the reasons for entering the war. Not so. The reason for entering the war was the gradual aggressive military movements of Japan spanning the previous 20 years, culminating in the invasion of China followed by the attack on Pearl Harbor.