Regreso a Bataan

Classical warfare movie with big John Wayne and the flick talks about the Phillipines battle , during WWII , concerning on defenders and resistance fighters , but Japan has just invaded ; regarding events happened in Bataan , Corregidor and Leyte . Exciting warfare movie about a tough Colonel who forms guerrilla army to raid Japanese and to help Americans landing on Leyte . The Japanese army has overrun the Philippines , sending General MacArthur packing , promising to return . The US Army's defense of its Philippines colony and the allied Malay countries/colonies behind it counted on its island fortress of Corregidor on Luzon -and a few others- but loses it in the 6 May 1942 Japanese combined forces attack . Meanwhile , it's sent to the Duke to hold the fort . A small group of soldiers commanded by Colonel Joseph Madden (John Wayne , he's based on on a real-life American who fought with the resistance movement) are among the escaping survivors who are ordered by general Douglas McArthur to organize a guerrilla . As Colonel Madden takes on the Japs aided by Capt. Andrés Bonifácio (Anthony Quinn) along with a small platoon of Filipino resistance fighters . As a group of soldiers flee from Japanese repeatedly attack and they head for blowing-up the Japanese installations . The defenders gave a few days for posterior victories and future US conquest like Midway , Island Salomon and Bismark . As the small army endeavoring to blow up a pivotal Japanese staff at a fake celebration of Independence .

This classic warlike movie is nicely starred by John Wayne at one of his best roles as a two-fisted Colonel , he's accompanied by a plethora of first-rate secondaries . Stirring actioner warfare completed with slice of military stereotypes although some characters are very one-dimensional . This rousing action saga results to be a a good film dealing with war in human terms . However , there are some nasty , ominous villains well played by Asian players who bear offensive racial stereotypes , as the Japanese are all nasty and evil . There is a fair bit of flag-waving and patriotism , but that was just what was needed when the picture was made . It may not be an awesome film , but this is a thrilling and well made war epic . This colorful movie contains action , breathtaking battles , thrills , stock-shots , historical events and the battle scenes are impressively made . Stalwart main cast , Wayne and Quinn , both of whom give splendid interpretations . Being stunningly supported by Belulah Bondi , Richard Loo , Lawrence Tierney Abner Biberman , Vladimir Sokoloff and Paul Fix as a grizzled as well as sympathetic veteran .

This is one of a handful of feature films that have featured the story of the World War II Battle of Bataan , they include ¨So proudly we hail¡¨ by Mark Sandrich (1943) ; ¨Bataan¨ (1943) by Tay Garnett and ¨They were expendable¨ (1945) by John Ford . The film is set into a lush , abundant jungle with a dense fog made by usual RKO production designer , Albert S. D'Agostino , and contains an atmospheric as well as evocative musical score by the ordinary Roy Webb . It is well set in South Pacific , Philippines and shot in Tarzana Ranch , Thousand Oaks , Baldwin Estate , Santa Anita , California . The motion picture was professionally directed by Edward Dmytryck , a good Hollywood craftsman . Edward has a sensitive handling of actors and provides an exact compositional sense . Edward handles in all -especially the battle scenes- with flair play and vigour . He is a classic director , his films deal with a deep description of civilized societies , he believes that corruption is an essential part of it , that society punishes sincerity , innocence and love, vengeance and greed determine the behavior of people .

The actual deeds about Bataan concern an unsuccessful attempt by US and Filipino troops under General Douglas MacArthur to defend the peninsular against the Japanese 1 Jan-9 April 1942 . Following the surrender of Bataan , MacArthur was evacuated , but Allies captives were force-marched 95 km/60 mi to the nearest railhead in the Bataan Death March,ill-treatment by the Japanese guards during the march killed about 16.000 US and Filipino troops .

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Back To Bataan is certainly one of the best war films ever made. John Wayne portrays Colonel Madden very well. This movie also shows that War Is Hell. Through very believable suspense, war sequences, it almost made you believe you were in the war and you could picture what it was like among the men who were actually there. When the camera was on the actor's face, you could tell whether he was scared, jumping with joy or angry. I urge all war movie buffs to check this one out, it's well worth your time. ****out of ****.

Back to Bataan (1945) - Director: Edward Dmytryk A classic Hollywood blood and guts, he-man favorite. John Wayne stars as an Army colonel who organizes guerrilla fighters in Japanese occupied Philippines with the aid of Spanish speaking Anthony Quinn. The line "War is Hell" was made for movies like this. Non-stop action. Watch it if your man enough! Made in all-American black and white!

The film "Back to Battan" starts and ends with the January 30, 1945 US/Filipino raid on the infamous Cabanatuan Japanese prison camp on Luzon Island as the allied troops rout the Japanese defenders, that number some 2,000 to 5,000 men, at the cost of only 4 killed and 21 wounded with not even a single US/Filipino POW being lost in the battle. The movie then goes back some three years to the spring of 1942 during the darkest days of the Japanese advance on Battan. US Col. Madden, John Wayne, and his men are fighting for their lives holding back wave after wave of suicidal Japanese Banzai attacks as the lights slowly go out for the American and Philippine forces. With the US general in command of the Philippines Douglas MacArthur being called back to Australia to regroup the battered and defeated US Army for another shot at the invincible army navy and air force of the Empire of Japan things look very bleak for the American and Filipino troops still left on the islands.

The film almost entirely concentrates on the guerrilla war conducted by Col. Joe Madden and Capt. Andres Bonifacio (Anthony Quinn), the grandson of the late 19th and early 20th century Filipino patriot and freedom fighter Andres Bonifacio the first. The guerrilla war lasted for two and a half years made it possible for the successful allied invasion of Latye in the fall of 1944. There's also Anders' girlfriend pretty Filipino radio personality Dolici Dalgado, Fely Franquelli, who's the Tokyo Rose of Minlia. Dolici is mouthing off on the radio Japanese propaganda to the Philippine people but in reality is working for US, which her boyfriend Andres who's totally unaware of it. Dolici puts secret code words into her commentaries to alert the US and allied, Philippine, troops where the Japanese Army is making it's next move.

One of the better WWII Hollywood war movies with John Wayne needing help from the locals and also being berated and pushed around by who I at first thought was the leader of the allied troops on the Islands,she sure as hell acted like she was, history teacher Bertha Barnes, Beulah Bondi. There's also a number of really exciting battle sequences between the US/Filipino troops and Japanese forces that didn't come across phony and overly one-sided, like in the battles of Battan and the Island fortress of Corrigidor,where the "Japs" actually won, like in most WWII movies coming out of Hollywood at that time.

There were two scenes in the movie "Back to Battan" that really moved me and that had very little to do with any fighting. The first when high school Principle J. Bello, Vladimir Sokoloff, refuses to pull down the American flag on the orders of Japanese officer Captain Abner Biberman and then was hanged in it's place. The second scene was when 15 year-old Philippine high-school student Maximo Cuerca, Duckie Louie, was forced to betray, after being tortured by the Japanese, his fellow freedom fighters and American allies. Maximo gave up his life taking the lives of his Japanese tormentors with him by forcing the truck he was on, by grabbing the steering wheel, to go off an embankment killing everyone on board in order to warn Col. Madden's men that they were soon to be ambushed.

The real heavy fighting was saved for last with the return to the Philippines of the American forces under the leadership of "I Shall Return" General Douglas MacArthur in the invasion and battle of Latye Gulf in October 1944. The invasion that culminated, in the movie, with the liberation of the Cabantuan POW Prison Camp in late January of 1945. We see, as the movie ends, a number of actual US POW's not actors in the film from some half dozen different states, Texas Alabama Kansas Tennessee Illinois and even Brooklyn New York. All these POW's who were just liberated are seen ecstatically marching to the trumping and heart-lifting tune of "California Here I Come".

While this film is a tad heavy from time to time with propaganda elements, in many ways this war film stands well above the usual crowd of jingoistic American war films. Now I am NOT being critical saying the films are "jingoistic", as this was positive propaganda that slightly exaggerated the truth in order to unify the country against the Japanese. After all, we were at war and Japan had conquered most of the Pacific. But films made during the war often sacrificed reality in order to deliver the message--such as in AIR FORCE when a B-17 bomber almost single-handedly wipes out half the Japanese planes!! Fortunately, beneath the occasionally heavy-handed patriotism, the film itself was a very good representation of the war in the Philippines. This, combined with excellent action scenes and better than average acting make this a film worth seeing. In particular, other than IN HARMS WAY, this is John Wayne's best WWII film, as his acting is a little less "bigger than life" and more realistic. Also, if you liked this film, I also strongly recommend BATAAN (starring a surprisingly macho Robert Taylor). This film focuses on the fall of Bataan and BACK TO BATAAN is a great companion piece as it focuses not only on this but its reconquest. Top notch entertainment and a decent history lesson to boot!