Suicide Battalion

A quick look at the Edward L Cahn section of this site reveals that he was notably prolific and in the year this movie was made -1958-churned out 5 other titles and maintained a similar rate for much of his career.Quantity rather than quality was a feature of his movie making and this has little to recommend it .

It is a curiously immobile film with much of the footage consisting of actors reciting rather dull dialogue in front of a static camera .The picture is clearly drive -in movie fodder and I suspect it was the bottom half of a double bill alongside a beach party or horror flick of similar dullness and lack of skill.

Set in the Pacific during World war Two it deals with the eponymous battalion who are sent behind enemy lines to prevent key strategy papers falling into Japanese hands .The actors are mostly youthful and good looking ,designed to appeal to a teen audience but possessing little grasp of the dramatic arts .Tension arises when the hard bitten commander Major McCormack (Mike Connors)clashes with second in command Lieutenant Hall (Bing Russell)in part over a mutual interest in a woman war photographer Elizabeth Mason (Jewell Lian)and there is a tiresome sub plot about a marriage between a young GI ,Tommy Novello (John Ashley)and a native girl . The acting is atrocious -apart from Russ Bender as the experienced Sergeant .Battle scenes use obvious stock newsreel footage and the whole movie is shoddy badly staged and a waste of time for the audience suckered into watching it

Despite actually having a familiar face in the lead (Mike Connors), an Oscar-winning cameraman and a veteran director there was plainly nothing left in the kitty to leave the studio and actually make the movie.

So it consists almost entirely of actors on a tiny soundstage looking rugged, hanging out in the local bordello, engaging in unfunny comic relief, tangling with a sexy female 'war correspondent' with a 50's hairstyle; and wholly dependent for actual action outdoors upon library footage.

This is one of the countless 1950s-60s AIP war flicks. I have seen several and they are all pretty bad. This particular one is directed by Edward L. Cahn. Other entries in the genre include TANK BATTALION, TANK COMMANDOS, JET ATTACK and HELL SQUAD.

Familiar face Mike Connors (from MANNIX) leads a band of specially trained demolition men to blow up a HQ building the Japanese have captured.

There's lots of badly stock war footage, a script that makes no sense (don't send the men right away, give them almost the entire movie to sit around doing pointless stuff when they ought to be killing enemy soldiers). Plus very cheap looking soundstages to simulate the Philippine jungle. Oh, yeah, throw in an obligatory woman character for the two leads to fight over and you're all set.

Still this movie towers above BRIDGE TO HELL and COMMANDO SQUAD.

I give it a 2/10.

Edward Cahn directs this very low budget war yarn. Mike Connors leads a special squad assigned to destroy top intelligence papers in the Philippines. The mission is almost suicidal, because the Japanese have set up a HQ in the small building housing the hidden documents.

Familiar stock footage is meshed with this spotty script. No masterpiece, but a quickie war flick worth watching. Diverse cast of characters that include: Bing Russell, Russ Bender and John Ashley. Ashley always seems to over act, but then there is Jewell Lain that shows very little skills as a reporter/love interest. Look for Sammee Tong, who played the butler on TV's "Bachelor Father". Lock and load.

This film takes place in the Philippines during World War 2 with an American officer named "Major Matt McCormack" (Mike Connors) being told that the Japanese Army has captured a key building where top-secret documents have been stored. With that in mind, Major McCormack is ordered to lead a small patrol comprised of volunteers to go behind enemy lines and destroy the building before the Japanese have a chance to find where these documents are hidden. The problem is that the odds of any of these men returning back to their battalion alive and well is extremely small. To that effect, each of them is offered a weekend pass and some money to spend at a local bar before heading out--and they all plan to make the most of it. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a rather weak movie due in large part to the extremely unrealistic plot. For starters, for a small squad of this size, it was more than a bit unusual to have two officers assigned to it--especially one with the rank of major. To add insult to injury, the other officer named "Lieutenant Chet Hall" (Bing Russell) would never behave in such a disrespectful manner toward his superior. It just wouldn't happen. That being said, it is my belief that whoever wrote the script never served in the military. But that's Hollywood for you. Throw in its obvious low-budget constraints, and I have difficulty rather this movie any higher than I have. Below average.