Pride of the Marines (1945)

Director:

Delmer Daves

Writers:

Roger Butterfield (book)
Marvin Borowsky (adaptation)

Release Date:

24 August 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | War

Plot:

Marine hero Al Schmid is blinded in battle and returns home to be rehabilitated. He readjusts to his civilian life with the help of his wife.

Plot Keywords:

Hospital | War Hero | Machine Gun | Marine Corps US | Blindness

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

John Garfield	...	Albert A. 'Al' Schmid
Eleanor Parker	...	Ruth Hartley
Dane Clark	...	Lee Diamond
John Ridgely	...	Jim Merchant
Rosemary DeCamp	...	Virginia Pfeiffer
Ann Doran	...	Ella Mae Merchant
Ann E. Todd	...	Loretta Merchant (as Ann Todd)
Warren Douglas	...	Kebabian
Don McGuire	...	Bill aka Irish
Tom D'Andrea	...	Tom
Rory Mallinson	...	Doctor
Mark Stevens	...	Ainslee (as Stephen Richards)
Anthony Caruso	...	Johnny Rivers
Moroni Olsen	...	Capt. Burroughs

Also Known As:

Forever in Love (UK)

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

This film is about the Battle of Guadacanal. 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.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Warner at War (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

In the Evening by the Moonlight

Superb technical accuracy

Though not central to the story of Al Schmid's difficult rehabilitation, the short segment depicting his combat on Guadalcanal is superbly done. It is so technically accurate that it might serve as an instructional film on use of the Browning M1917 heavy machine gun. This level of authenticity was extremely rare in the 1940s and bespeaks a serious commitment by the director and (presumably) the marine corps. Apart from that, however, the tension and terror of nocturnal combat is extraordinarily well depicted. Such realism was rare in the decades before "Saving Private Ryan."