American International Pictures (AIP) was a super-cheap production company that really came into its own in the 1960s. With a lot of beach films, stories about drugs, hippies and biker gangs, the studio made a ton of money because their super-cheaply made films were popular in drive-in theaters....though they never were what anyone would consider artistic masterpieces!
In the case of "Suicide Batallion", the studio made the sort of 1950s film that they really did NOT do well...a WWII epic. What are the major problems? It all boils down to money. The writing and acting weren't all that hot and the film often resorted to stock footage because there really wasn't much money for costumes, props and the like.
The story is about an amazingly undisciplined group of jerks who are assigned the task to blow up a building behind enemy lines in the Pacific theater. Heading the group is a wimpy Major (Mike Connors) who doesn't see all that put off that his Lieutenant is disobedient and even, at times, does this in front of the rest of the men. Toss in some sexy ladies (after all, wasn't the Pacific in 1942-3 filled with hot, buxom American women???) and you have a picture that is watchable but nothing more.
In the case of "Suicide Batallion", the studio made the sort of 1950s film that they really did NOT do well...a WWII epic. What are the major problems? It all boils down to money. The writing and acting weren't all that hot and the film often resorted to stock footage because there really wasn't much money for costumes, props and the like.
The story is about an amazingly undisciplined group of jerks who are assigned the task to blow up a building behind enemy lines in the Pacific theater. Heading the group is a wimpy Major (Mike Connors) who doesn't see all that put off that his Lieutenant is disobedient and even, at times, does this in front of the rest of the men. Toss in some sexy ladies (after all, wasn't the Pacific in 1942-3 filled with hot, buxom American women???) and you have a picture that is watchable but nothing more.