Except for Lamar Trotti, a top writer @ 20th/Fox, this WWII war drama, made within a year of the fighting portrayed, is strictly a B-list affair, above & below the line. But if limited star power & a modest budget cut down on bloat, there’s not much very new or exciting going on. Instead, the usual motley crew of mostly untested marines, goofing around with (eyebrow-raising) brotherly behavior before the tone takes a sharp turn to scared & serious when they spot the convoy they’ve joined overnight and reach enemy shore. A deceptively easy landing is followed by a months-long death-plagued slog grabbing hostile territory and clearing out the Japanese. Dramatically, the story moves from fighting encounter ‘A’ to fighting encounter ‘B’ without much in the way of dramatic organization, and perhaps it felt that way on the ground. But a lack of spontaneity from the boys or a sense of how officers had to plan on the wing to meet changing circumstances, leaves this feeling pretty standard issue. And they show exactly what’s been missing in the film’s best sequence, a brisk, well laid-out operation to remove Japanese hold-outs who are using natural island caves as shooting bunkers, smartly handled by journeyman helmer Lewis Seiler. (His next was SOMETHING FOR BOYS/’44 with Carmen Miranda!) But nothing else in here lives up to it. Lots of up-and-comers in the cast: Anthony Quinn, Richards Conte & Jaeckel, and good relief (most, but not all comic) from William Bendix who also gets stuck with the pic’s big philosophical/religious speech. (At least they keep Chaplain Preston Foster from delivering it.)
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: All the studios, major & minor, put out grunts-go-to-battle projects. Even the lousy ones hold some interest in charting changing public moods at the time of release. 1943 was pretty low, so this film is tough, but optimistic. Easier to pull off when battle deaths are so bloodlessly depicted.
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