gregorynewton 1943 saw many films of this type. The war was in its third year and the Homefront was full of ration cards and stars in windows. If it wasn't a war picture, it was sure to be escapism. For example, Kenneth Spencer had great roles in both Bataan and Cabin in the Sky in 1943. I love the odd mixture of servicemen all lumped together at this forgotten outpost with a single yet futile mission. Destroy the bridge and keep on destroying it. Men are lost one by one yet they stay. Everyone has character flaws and everyone rises to heroic proportions when duty calls for it. That spirit of sacrifice and true grit fight is why the allies won the war.All Americans knew of the fate of Bataan - McCarthur's retreat, the death marches and the horrific loss of life. This film captures that tragic story magnificently with fine performances from all of the characters and excellent direction. A perfect screening for a Memorial Day weekend.

grantss Gritty WW2 movie.Focuses on a US unit during the early days of the US involvement in WW2. A small unit holds an important area in the US defenses, on the Bataan peninsular in the Philippines. Very gritty in that no punches are pulled in the depiction of the war. No superman-like heroics. All quite realistic.Being made in 1943, the film uses US weapons of the time of the battle, adding to the authenticity.Good performance by Robert Taylor in the lead role. Decent supporting performances, though that of Robert Walker, as the sailor, is particularly irritating.

ma-cortes The film talks about the Pacific battle , during WWII , concerning the defenders of Bataan but Japan has just invaded . A small group of soldiers (Thomas Mitchell , LLoyd Nolan , Desi Arnaz , among others) flee from Japanese repeatedly attack and they head for blowing-up a bridge on the Bataan location and their final destination : Corregidor . The captain (Lee Bowman) dies and the top-sergeant (Robert Taylor) takes command along with an Airbone lieutenant (George Murphy). The military unit surrounded by the Japanese in a foggy set , lush jungle and progressively dwindling group . The defenders gave a few days for posterior victories and future US conquest like Midway , Island Salomon and Bismark . The Bataan of the film's title refers to both the World War II Battle of Bataan and the place Bataan which is a Central Luzon region province on Luzon island in the Philippines which occupies the whole of the Bataan Peninsula on the island . This movie's dedication states that it is dedicated to the heroes of Bataan. This classic warlike movie is nicely starred by Robert Taylor at one of his best roles as a tough sergeant , he's accompanied by a plethora of first-rate secondaries . This exciting actioner warfare completed with slice of military stereotypes although some characters are very one-dimensional , as well as presenting an African American in an intelligent and sympathetic manner , attempting to avoid any racial speeches in the script . The original plot belongs to ¨Lost patrol¨ (1934) by John Ford , whose screenplay has been pretty imitated and remade many times but it's still a magnificent entertainment . In fact , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer paid RKO a lot of money for the right to use scenes from Lost patrol in this movie . As ¨Lost patrol¨ was subsequently remade and reworked several times : ¨Sahara¨ (by Zoltan Korda) with scenarios in Libya desert ; ¨Last of Comanches¨ (Andre De Toth) in California desert ; and even part of ¨Flight of Phoenix¨ (Robert Aldrich) in Sahara desert , and , of course , this ¨Bataan¨(Tay Garnett) in Philippines jungle . This is one of a handful of feature films that have featured the story of the World War II Battle of Bataan , they include ¨So proudly we hail¡¨ by Mark Sandrich (1943) ; ¨They were expendable¨ (1945) by John Ford and ¨Back to Bataan¨ (1945) by Edward Dmytryck . The film is set into a lush , abundant jungle with a dense fog made by usual Metro Goldwin Mayer production designer , Cedric Gibbons , and it contains an atmospheric as well as thrilling musical score by Bronislau Kaper . The motion picture was professionally directed by Tay Garnett, a good Hollywood craftsman.The actual deeds about Bataan concern an unsuccessful attempt by US and Filipino troops under General Douglas MacArthur to defend the peninsular against the Japanese 1 Jan-9 April 1942 . Following the surrender of Bataan , MacArthur was evacuated , but Allies captives were force-marched 95 km/60 mi to the nearest railhead in the Bataan Death March,ill-treatment by the Japanese guards during the march killed about 16.000 US and Filipino troops .

bkoganbing In addition to Bataan being one of the finest World War II films ever done, it also marked the final transformation of Robert Taylor from romantic leading man to tough action star. After this one Taylor, NEVER got cast in any powder puff roles.He's a tough, believable army sergeant who's in command of a squad that's been cobbled together from remnants of other squads and given a suicide rear guard mission to hold off the Japanese from taking and crossing a key bridge. Some of the other men of his squad are Lloyd Nolan, Thomas Mitchell, Robert Walker, Barry Nelson, Desi Arnaz. There's an army pilot with a plane to be repaired played by George Murphy and when Captain Lee Bowman is killed Taylor is in command.So they hold the Japanese off, the Battle of Bataan in microcosm, hoping for aid that never came because the United States had no aid to give at that point. In the tradition of The Alamo, they all go down, one at a time.Of the cast I'd single out Lloyd Nolan and Desi Arnaz. Nolan is another army veteran, a hardbitten hardcase almost a mirror image of Taylor. Their scenes have some real bite to them. But Lloyd Nolan was never bad in anything he ever did.Desi Arnaz is quite a revelation. His accent is pretty thick, he never got to be a Latin Lover leading man like Fernando Lamas or Ricardo Montalban did. In fact that accent was part of his whole shtick with his wife later on in I Love Lucy. But Arnaz shows her he was capable of being far more than the patient but sometimes exasperated Ricky Ricardo. Too bad he never got more opportunities like Bataan.No derring do heroics in Bataan. These are ordinary people of the greatest generation doing a job that had to be done.