Bataan

Bataan is a province, central Luzon, Philippines, sheltering Manila Bay from the South China Sea... It is largely covered by jungle and is traversed north to south by steep mountains...

After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in December 1941 and the fall of Manila (January 2, 1942), the defending Americans and Filipinos withdrew to Bataan, foiling Japanese efforts to split the forces of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur... His troops fought a fierce delaying action until April 9, 1942, and remnants, led by Lieut. Gen. Jonathan M.Wainwright, escaped to Corregidor Island, where they surrendered about a month later...

On January 9, 1945, U.S. Forces, under MacArthur, landed at Lingayen Gulf to the north and sealed off the Bataan Peninsula... Landings were then made at Mariveles Harbor in the south and on Corregidor Island, thus securing Manila Bay for the U.S. Navy...

"Bataan" is the fictional story of 13 men who stayed behind, holding a bridge, and fighting to the death a rear guard action to ensure the success of the Allied forces retreat from the Philippines...

The audience live with the soldiers their last heroic days: George Murphy, an Air Force Lieutenant secretly reliable; Lloyd Nolan, the smart Corporal with compassionate qualities; Thomas Mitchell, a career NCO; Deni Arnaz, a friendly Spanish soldier; Barry Nelson, the competent Matowski; Lee Bowman, the Captain who falls with a bullet; Robert Walker (in his screen debut) who almost breaks down from homesickness; Kenneth Spencer, the black soldier with an undisturbed force and simple dignity, and Robert Taylor, the tough heroic Sergeant alive in the face of the enemy, who sets up his machine gun and keeps it firing until the end...

All are representatives of the heroism existing in all Americans, symbol of the heroic resistance...

For a war movie, this was a bit unusual in that almost the whole film took part in one place. You could almost make a play out of this. A group of men stay in one area trying to sabotage a bridge so the Japanese can't use it to transport supplies. Meanwhile, they have to fend off attacks by the enemy. The closing scenes feature that attack and some are quite brutal.

At least half of the story is not action but melodramatic looks at the soldiers, particularly of the squad's sergeant leader Robert Taylor and one of his men who has an attitude problem: Lloyd Nolan. We also get some shorter profiles of combat men played by Robert Walker, Thomas Mitchell and Desi Arnez (yes, Lucy's husband).

The special effects are more than passable considering they weren't too advanced in the film industry compared to today's technology. However, credibility was a little thin as those Japanese soldiers died awfully fast in those combat scenes at the end. I swear I saw several of them drop over before anyone hit them!

Taylor was the best in this movie "army" and Walker was the annoying character, playing an extremely young and generally stupid Navy guy (don't ask) who never stopped talking in this irritating voice. Other than his character, this was a tough, no-nonsense war movie.

World War II and it's the Bataan peninsula. 13 members of the US armed forces, with Filipino volunteers, have been hastily assembled to blow up a bridge and delay Japanese attempts to rebuild it for as long as possible. As the Japanese close in from the surrounding jungle, the men must also battle with their own wills to have any hope of survival.

Lets get the complaints of others out the way first. Yes this is a studio shot production, yes there is model work involved, and yes this is unashamedly a flag waving, chest thumping, rally call of heroism. Based around actual events, this is a fictionalised telling that also has no shame in being disparaging towards the Japanese in the film. Now are these things really a problem? This is after all 1943, a time when the US was struggling in the Pacific conflict. A loose copy of John Ford's 1934 film The Lost Patrol, Bataan served as a moral booster for the public back home. The message is clear, this may be tantamount to a suicide mission, because, well, war is indeed hell, but sacrifices are necessary to achieve the bigger freedom objective.

Nicely directed by Tay Garnett {The Postman Always Rings Twice} and tightly scripted by Robert Hardy Andrews {The Cross of Lorraine}, the film stars Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Thomas Mitchell, Robert Walker, Desi Arnaz & Lloyd Nolan. Violent and brutal for its time {the hand to hand bayonet sequences are brilliantly realised}, Bataan is also notable for portraying a racially integrated fighting force having to come together for the greater good. This group of men are a mixed bunch, different backgrounds, different races and different classes. But they are in the same boat as the Japanese start to pick them off one by one, and not only that, but Malaria is in the camp as well. The tension is racked up, the atmosphere stifling, we the viewers are witness to a unique show of heroism as we live with these men during their last soul sapping days.

The cast do really well when one considers they are in fact playing disposable characters. Taylor in particular is effective as the tough Sergeant forced into command of the group. While some scenes such as a moodily staged camouflaged Japanese approach are truly memorable and linger long in the memory. The end also is terrific, one which puts one in mind of Sam Peckinpah watching and nodding approvingly. High on suspense and beating a real brave heart, Bataan is up with the best that the war genre of film has to offer. Belyng its budget restrictions it achieves its aims and then some. 8.5/10

1943 audiences already knew how Bataan would end before they went to see the film, but they went anyway, since this Tay Garnett-directed combat picture is a rugged tribute to the 'expendable' men of the Philippines of 1942. I can't do better than James Agee's fine review when the movie came out, but would like to add a few things of my own.

Rather than try to show the entire evacuation and abandonment of the Phillipines, which would be perhaps overwhelmingly depressing, the film-makers decided to focus on one small, fictional incident that could, in effect, stand in for everything else. They chose wisely. What happens is that we watch a group of soldiers defend and then destroy a bridge, so as to slow down the Japanese army's advance, if only by a few hours, to buy precious time for everyone else. None of these men wants to be a hero. They're all stuck there, and would rather be someplace else. While some are more aggressive than others, no one is wholly brave; and though there is a good deal of nervousness and occasional cowardice, they all pull together admirably in the end.

Though filmed on the Culver City lot, the film cleverly and expressionistic ally suggests a tropical environment. As the story progresses the jungle gets foggier. It was never too inviting to begin with; by the movie's end it is absolutely forbidding.

The acting is variable. Some of the casting is peculiar. Thomas Mitchell plays a corporal named Feingold, but can't seem to get rid of the slight, American-style brogue that was so much a part of his screen persona. Desi Arnaz has a small role. There is a fairly straightforward presentation of a black man whose color is the least important thing about him. Robert Walker, in what I believe is his first film, has a showy role as a garrulous, yarn-spinning sailor. His character is, I imagine, supposed to be a typically charming, bumptious All-American boy, along the lines, perhaps, of Van Johnson. I find Walker,--who was an excellent actor--obnoxious in the part. Lloyd Nolan is tough as nails as a hard-case soldier with a dark past.

The movie's biggest asset in the acting department also happens to be its star: Robert Taylor. This pretty boy matinée idol gives a fine performance as the sergeant with a job no man in his right mind would want. And he is in his right mind. Taylor has no vanity in the part. He is as dirty and unshaven as everyone else in the cast, and at times shows flashes of depth and insight that are startling given his lightweight reputation. Taylor pulls the film together, with no Duke Wayne ostentation or posturing, and proves, like the film, to be stronger and truer to life than we might at first have imagined.

BATAAN is one of the better war films to come out during the war years of World War II. Robert Taylor holds the whole gritty film together with his realistic depiction of a sergeant leading a small troop of men in an effort to hold back the Japanese attack by blowing up a crucial bridge. Taylor, Robert Walker as a gum-chewing homesick sailor, Lloyd Nolan, Dezi Arnaz (surprisingly effective in a dramatic role) and others make splendid contributions. Special mention should be made of Philip Terry's medic--an under-appreciated actor who is shown as committed to his job in a selfless way but finally going berserk under the pressures of war. (He had other good roles in Olivia de Havilland's TO EACH HIS OWN and Ray Milland's THE LOST WEEKEND).

The jungle setting (although filmed on the studio lot) is impressive with its exotic foliage and adds to the realism. The hand to hand combat scenes are well staged, as are the final moments of the film.

All in all, a gripping war film that more than holds its own with contemporary stories like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

Has to be appreciated in the context of its time--when flag-waving patriotism was at its peak and lines like "Those dirty Japs" were not considered politically incorrect.