Volveremos a la isla Wake

This film begins with a USMC officer by the name of "Major Geoffrey Caton" (Brian Donlevy) arriving on Wake Island to take command of the garrison just weeks before the Japanese entry in World War 2. With him on the flight is a civilian contractor named "Shad McClosky" (Albert Dekker) who develops an immediate dislike for the major due primarily to McClosky's misconception that Major Caton wants to exercise command and control over him and his men. Regardless of that, the first thing Major Caton does is to begin preparing for war by having his men dig trenches and foxholes all around the island. Unfortunately, just hours after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese bomb the Wake Island airfield and destroy all of the American fighters on the ground with only 4 surviving due to being airborne at the time. From here on out the Marines dig in and wait for the inevitable Japanese invasion. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that even though this film took certain liberties with the facts, the overall details of the battle remained relatively accurate and played out exceptionally well on the screen which resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Likewise, William Bendix was also nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as "Private Aloysius K. 'Smacksie' Randall". In short, although this film certainly contained its share of creative licensing, it manages to entertain fairly well in its own right and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

The battle for Wake Island concluded just before Christmas of 1941 and news from the place was pretty sketchy. It would not be known until after the war ended exactly what happened on the place.

In many ways it was worse than what's shown here. With no help coming at all from the mainland USA or from Pearl Harbor which was licking its own wounds, there was an unconditional surrender declared. The construction workers who were building a base on the island when war broke out were all summarily executed as spies. The few Marines who did survive, survived in horrible captivity, probably made worse by the fact that America never tried to take the island back. When they had the overwhelming naval superiority, the Japanese were starved out, but so were the prisoners they had.

So with an incomplete story at best, the writers at Paramount had free reign to do an Alamo like story and proceeded to do just that. Brian Donlevy is a stalwart Marine Colonel who clashes repeatedly with Albert Dekker the head of the construction workers. Comic relief is provided by Robert Preston and William Bendix as a pair of tough marines who joke about Bendix's impending discharge which occurs right on the day of Pearl Harbor.

Bendix was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and while he's pretty funny in the part, when you consider he did a highly effective dramatic role in The Glass Key that same year, I'm wondering if the Academy put him up for the wrong film. He lost that year to Van Heflin for Johnny Eager.

Wake Island is a dated story, dated but entertaining. Maybe someone will do a film of the real story there, the horrible captivity of our prisoners, just like what they endured in the Phillipines.

Three plots are going on simultaneously in this movie. (1) The conflict between the Marines manning the small garrison at Wake Island and the no-nonsense Pan American construction crew preparing a berth for the Pan Am clipper. (2) The horseplay and bonding between Robert Preston (who must have had one of the longest careers as a supporting actor in Hollywood) and William Bendix as the Marine enlisted man who wants to unenlist so he can marry the delectable Myrtle. (3) Then there are all the Americans fighting against overwhelming Japanese naval and air forces.

This was one of the first war movies ground out after Pearl Harbor but it doesn't look especially hastily done. The Salton Sea location gives a good imitation of a flat, sandy Pacific island, which is pretty much what Wake Island was. The garrison was so tiny that only 47 enlisted men were available. The Marines and the Navy pilots fly F4F Wildcats, and this was crucial to the defense of the island. Most of them were destroyed on the ground or in accidents. But the few fighters available and the handful of relatively small caliber coastal defense guns inflicted serious damage on the first Japanese fleet, mostly by lying low until the invasion force was well within range. A second invasion attempt succeeded, after all the Wildcats were destroyed. The commander surrendered, along with the few survivors; they didn't sacrifice themselves to the last man as shown in the film. (What would that have accomplished?) But the movie was a great morale raiser at a time when the country desperately needed some morale raising.

The conflict in goals and styles between the Marines (all discipline and training) and the construction men (shabby, rough-and-ready improvisers) is, I suppose, designed to teach us that we all have to work together now that war is upon us. It's rather clumsily done. Albert Dekker as the construction boss is unnecessarily nasty and contemptuous, and Brian Donlevy as the commander of the Marine forces is the soul of patience and reason. The subplot gets the job done but it's something like having your kindergarten teacher beat the letters of the alphabet into you.

I rather liked the comedy relief provided by Preston and Bendix. Preston keeps trying to talk Bendix into reenlisting in the Corps but Bendix is determined to become a married civilian. Extolling Marine Corps life, Preston urges Bendix to close his eyes and think of what he REALLY wants. "All I see is Moitle," Bendix says. "No, no, no. Forget Myrtle. Close your eyes and put your hand over them and think -- now what do you really SEE?" Replies Bendix, "Nope. It's still Moitle." This is the kind of friendship you see only in the movies. They fall into fist fights at the drop of an insult, but are willing to sacrifice their lives for one another.

It is a bit tedious in parts. But the end, some hyperdramatic touches aside, sticks pretty close to the historical facts. No, we didn't mount a successful defense of Wake Island. How could we, with so few supplies and men? But, like Pearl Harbor, it was the kind of defeat that could almost be depicted as a victory, both honorable and inevitable.

And check out the cast! So many faces that were later to become so familiar, many of them uncredited. Dane Clark, James Brown.

It's worth watching, though there is little about it that's gripping. The photography is notable -- crisp, clear, sunny black and white, with the sun scintillating on the surface of the sea. And the war scenes are unusually well done for such an early example of the genre.

It's 1942 and the war in the Pacific is still in doubt. Japan has taken the Philippines and is moving on the rocky atolls of the central Pacific. Wake is smack in the middle and of no real value except militarily as a stepping-stone to bigger prizes.

This Paramount production adds up to an expertly mounted flag waver. Sure, maybe the Japanese have taken the island, but viewers are treated to heroic resistance from the Marine defenders that's bound to rally a grim American home front. The battle scenes--air, water, and ground--are realistic as heck, location shots blending almost seamlessly with occasional sets. Then too, the set-up footage of what purports to be an island Marine base is convincing as heck. Clearly Paramount understood the significance of its production.

For old time movie buffs, it's a treat catching the likes of Bill Bendix, Preston Foster, and Brian Donlevy, the former two providing the flick's macho humor. But don't look for skirts, it's an all male cast, understandably. And except for the tricky Japanese diplomat in the first part, the enemy is not parodied, rather surprising given the circumstances. All in all, the 80+ minutes amounts to a first-rate tribute to American fighting spirit even under impossible odds. However, if you don't like movie bullets or explosions, steer clear.

"Wake Island" is a battle for a small atoll in the Central Pacific Ocean west of Honolulu, which was attacked by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, hours after Pearl Harbor... The small U.S. marine garrison held out until the Japanese overran the island on December 23...

It is a story of sacrifice of the gallant and doomed defenders, movingly portrayed by William Bendix, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, MacDonald Carey and others... The battle scenes are chillingly photographed in Black and White, and the movie blows the clarion call for a new heroism... It is the 'Alamo of the Pacific,' the cry of 'Remember Wake Island," with the same stirring effects as 'Remember the Alamo,' one hundred years previously...

Well done within its limits, the film bears the unmistakable stamp of truth, and hails as a realistic portrayal of brave men in war...