L'isola della gloria

Calling this movie a propaganda film is no insult--it was released very shortly after the actual fall of Wake Islan and was an effective way to put a face on these doomed defenders and energize the people at home in the war effort. Since it was completed so quickly, the exact details of the final doomed days of the soldiers was a bit murky so the studio filled in the gaps with fictionalized accounts of this struggle.

The film begins just before December 7, 1941 and the island is in the process of being turned into a military base. Civilian engineers and soldiers cover the barren island and they are unaware that they were directly in harm's way. Soon, the troops on the island would face invasion and annihilation.

As I said, the individual accounts of heroism were fictionalized through the creation of some characters such as those played by William Bendix and Robert Preston (who seem like an old married couple with their banter) as well Albert Dekker (who, as usual, plays a loudmouth patriot), Brian Donlevy and Macdonald Carey. The acting was very effective even though by today's standards some of the stories seem a bit clichéd--they were perfect for the time.

While far from one of the very best war films made during WWII, it was better than average and is well worth a look. Excellent quality and a rousing script make for a very good film.

A final note because I am an aviation nut. I hated one part of the film--the aerial scenes were often bad, as monoplanes (with a single wing) often magically became biplanes in mid-air (with two wings). While I could forgive them making Japanese planes that looked nothing like the real thing, having them change so radically in mid-flight was unforgivable. Did they think the audiences wouldn't notice?

This film was commenced before the battle finished. It tells how that small force of marines and civilian workers defended remote Wake Island for two weeks against the Japanese blitzkrieg early in the Pacific War.

Fictional names were used for characters, many of whom had real life counterparts especially Brian Donlevy as Major Caton (in reality, Major James Devereux). Other characters were inventions such as the bickering buddies played by Robert Preston and William Bendix.

Of course the filmmakers didn't know how the battle really ended because communication was cut, and the Japanese weren't working as technical advisors.

The scenes of the battle on the island were well staged although the film is a mixture of bathtub model effects, documentary footage of varying quality and every cliché Hollywood ever invented for military life.

Director John Farrow, Mia's father, was an Australian who joined the Royal Canadian Navy in 1939 on the outbreak of the war in Europe. He actually directed "Wake Island" while convalescing from illness. The film was released in August 1942 when he must have known that the fate of Australia hung in the balance.

The film exudes an iron-jawed heroic tone that 80 years later seems like typical Hollywood exaggeration. However those marines on Wake were as uncomplicatedly brave as the film depicts.

After Pearl Harbour, the Marine Corps expanded with the influx of thousands of highly motivated citizens, but the Wake Island garrison was made up of pre-war marines, professionals; being marines was their stock in trade. The defence of Wake (actually three islands: Wilkes, Peale and Wake) was remarkable, but if anything exemplifies the calibre of those men, it was what happened on Wilkes.

There is a line in 'Full Metal Jacket" when Gunnery Sergeant Hartman tells the recruits "The deadliest weapon in the world is a marine and his rifle".

The one hundred Japanese who landed on Wilkes may have agreed. Attacked by about half that number of marines led by Captain Wesley Platt, all the Japanese were killed through a combination of superb marksmanship and aggressive tactics. When Major Devereaux went around ordering his men to lay down their arms, Platt refused at first, exclaiming, "Marines don't surrender. Let us die right here". But he did obey the order; he was a marine after all.

The defenders didn't all die and most faced long years of harsh captivity. A brilliant documentary, "Wake Island: Alamo of the Pacific", told the true story through the eyes of veterans who returned to the island, a remarkable group of elderly men revealing the qualities of the marines who defended Wake.

In 1942 the film served a purpose. Today its importance could be that it will inspire people to find out what really happened, because history has a disturbing habit of repeating itself.

While nowadays this may seem quite indistinguishable from the many flagwavers rushed into production in its day, at the time WAKE ISLAND was very well received garnering 4 major Academy Award nominations (Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor - William Bendix); true, the characters and situations are pretty stereotypical but even so, it is certainly well enough made and well-cast (Brian Donlevy, Macdonald Carey, Albert Dekker, Robert Preston, Walter Abel) to be remembered when WWII films are discussed. Once the Pearl Harbor attack gets underway, it becomes an engrossing and poignant depiction of men-in-war facing insurmountable odds; the downbeat ending was quite fresh at the time and seems to have led to a spate of similarly pessimistic WWII movies like BATAAN (1943), SAHARA (1943), THEY WERE EXPENDABLE (1945), etc.

"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...

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.