Lauded, popular, not so good; this John Wayne WWII standard really showing its age. Allan Dwan, a major director in silent days, slowing falling to solid but minor efforts after early sound success, here gets one of his biggest late-career budgets and makes it work impressively on the larger battle scenes, many interspersed with real Iwo Jima combat footage (always a dicey thing). But as for the rest (barrack life, training, leave, personality conflicts), it’s 80% corn, delineating a typically motley crew of Hollywood Marines with single differentiating marks (ethnicity, geography, social/financial status). Fine when aligned to smart character acting & dialogue, but this is boilerplate stuff. Hence, Wayne’s problem: not enough family; John Agar’s: too much; and so on down the ranks. (One truly odd touch has Wayne’s latest drinking binge interrupted by a middle-aged gal who invites him home for drinks only to have Wayne discover her unattended infant. Yikes! Today, we’d lock her up for soliciting and neglect; Wayne just tosses a wad of cash in the crib.) 1949 was pretty late in the day for such an easy glide thru atoll warfare with quick reversals of fortune playing out as story beats with a tinny ring to them. Think people would have known too much to let this pass? Think again, SANDS was a major hit, earning award action and still fiercely defended.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Though Oscar-nom’d, SANDS wasn’t even Wayne’s best work of the year (see SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON), nor his best WWII pic (see THEY WERE EXPENDABLE/’45 or IN HARM’S WAY/’65).
DOUBLE-BILL: Clint Eastwood’s paired 2006 films on the battle (not seen here): American P.O.V. in FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS; Japan’s in LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, the better received.
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