Corregidor

Recently distributed in DVD, this movie was a disappointment. It takes a unique tact to bring noncombatants into a war film; an idea that should have been a basis for a great story. The missionary doctor and the brave bride hardly get any character development throughout the film. The story is one of a dedicated missionary doctor in the Philippines, who is surprised by the arrival of a former lover. On 6 December, 1941, she has followed the missionary doctor to marry him. He is surprised as he had disregarded the letter, being busy in his research. But, her real love is an Army doctor, currently stationed at Corrigidor. The Japanese attack happens at the close of the wedding ceremony. That begins a 600 miles journey through the jungle, with terribly directed combat scenes and with poorly dramatized suffering. Although we expect some period gloss over suffering and combat, the scenes are very poorly presented. At Corrigidor, the battle progresses, the three friends/lovers are reunited, and the devastating losses mount. I'll leave the ending to the viewer, but it is convincing neither in tone nor emotion. In 1943, there were probably not many technical advisers on the last scenes at Corrigidor, but suffice it to say, the last departees were not leaving on C-47s. I appreciate period pieces, and allow for the oversights, glamorization of the 1940's scripts and productions. And the patriotic message was both expected and deserved by the men and women who struggled on Corrigidor and throughout the Philippines. But, this is just poorly done, and loses all its punch. Too bad for a potentially great story line, in an honestly heroic setting. Having visited Corrigidor, I was hopeful for a powerful, though period based piece. The film was disappointing on all counts.

This is not a good film to watch unless you're into watching films and making fun of them like me and my friends do.

Corregidor was made a year after Casablanca and it seems to me that the makers of Corregidor were clearly trying grab some of the Casablanca fans. It is, however, not anywhere near the quality of Casablanca.

"Doctors on Corregidor sort out a love triangle while fighting the invading Japanese forces. [1943] with Otto Kruger & Donald Woods. Approximately 1 hour, 6 minutes - B/W."

I enjoyed laughing at most of this film but two of my favorites are Sgt. Mahoney, (Frank Jenks), and a nurse named "Hey-Dutch", (Wanda Mckay). Mahoney is always trying to crack jokes at the worst times and "Hey-Dutch", well, her name is stupid! Ah, good times, good times.

The DVD recording I viewed of the film was not that good but I'm sure the original film has deteriorated over time.

An interesting tidbit of trivia is that Ruby Dandridge played a minor part as Hyacinth. Ruby is the mother of Dorothy Dandridge.

Corregidor is an object lesson in how to make a cheap movie on a given subject. Contrast it to the two films made at MGM about the same period of World War II, Bataan which starred Robert Taylor and later on They Were Expendable which John Ford made at MGM. If ever there was a contrast between the lavish Tiffany Studio of Hollywood and a poverty row outfit like Producer's Releasing Corporation this is it.

Additionally They Were Expendable had a romance between John Wayne and Donna Reed just as this film has a triangle romance with nurse Elissa Landi caught between doctors Otto Kruger and Donald Woods. In Corregidor the whole thing is rather forced with some awful dialog. With a master director like John Ford it was understated and effective and done in Ford's sentimental style.

This was Elissa Landi's farewell film. Five years later she would be dead of cancer. Both Donald Woods and Otto Kruger were in a lot of far better films than Corregidor.

Still the acting is sincere and it does raise it above the average of the usual product from PRC.

Pants, baggy, sweaty pants. Not even good for the WWII 'pump up the home front so they buy bonds' circuit. It seems like a combination of two scripts, neither of them very good. Is it a love story? Maybe for the first few minutes. Is it a war movie? Sort of, in that there are guys getting shot in a cartoon fashion. This movie doesn't seem to know what it wants to do.

An attempt is made to show the fall of Corregidor but somebody wanted to add an element of a love triangle. It didn't work then and it didn't work for Pearl Harbor. At least Pearl took a lot of time to try to make both sides work. Corregidor didn't even bother to make one side work. I cared more about Hey Dutch and Pinky than I cared about any of the three main characters.

Add in really lousy stock footage of various US planes being passed off as Japanese planes and this thing screams mass production. It also whispers silent movie, like the one part where the Doc goes in to do some surgery and there's no more gloves. It's all pantomimed, like a silent. Except this is 1943! If this had been made in the 30s I could forgive a lot of the flaws but this pig was made well into the 40s and there's just no excuse other than being a cheap knock off. Frankly I find it insulting to the men and women of Corregidor. It should have a real remake except most everybody that was there is probably dead by now so all you'd get is more Hollyworld hogwash.

2/10

This is a very humanistic film. It shows the bravery, suffering, humor and strength of both men and women who were defending an island in the Phillipines called Corregidor in the first five months of World War II. I think it was meant to be a tribute to those men and women and I think it works as a tribute.

Unfortunately the DVD copy, as most reviewers have mentioned, is not very good. I am not sure if the problem is in the print used or the transfer. It is possible that the print had faded, so there was little that could have been done. It would be nice to see a good print if one exists with a good transfer.

The movie is a little bit of everything, some light, romantic scenes, some comradely kidding scenes, some strong gutsy speeches, and a lot of battle action. Hanging over these elements and keeping them from being enjoyable is the notion that this was ultimately a hard, military defeat. Surprisingly, an almost equal number of Americans and Japanese are seen dying in the battles.

When this film was made in 1943, the war still going on. Corregidor was only recaptured in 1945. 800 Americans were killed and some 11,000 American and Philipinos were still prisoners of war when the film was made. The Japanese lost 900 men. A simple operation that was supposed to take only a few weeks, ended up taking them five months. The time and manpower they lost was crucial and hoped set up the defeats the Japanese suffered in the next few months of the war.

This is actually a much grittier, more heartfelt and less romantic view of this battle than the popular John Ford/John Wayne movie made about it two years later, "They Were Expendable". That was a satisfying Hollywood movie that was more of a celebration than a tribute. There is little in that film of the gloomy atmosphere that appears in this film.

The script by Doris Malloy and great low-budget filmmaker Edgar Ulmer is fine. Direction by veteran director William Nigh (this was number 106 out 120 films) is crisp. The battles in the second half of the film do seem to dominate the human characters. None of the battles are spectacular and they become a bit monotonous and even boring. Perhaps that is better than the glamorous and exciting battles that one so often finds in Hollywood war movies. It gives the film a somber, rather than a Gung-Ho tone and message.

This is not a great movie, but it is a good one worth watching, even on a DVD copy of a bad print.