Manila Calling

If you are a fan of 1940s actress Carole Landis this is a must-see movie. I'm thrilled that Fox has finally released it on DVD. Carole plays a showgirl who gets trapped with a group of soldiers in the Phillipines during World War 2. Her costar and love interest is the always terrific Lloyd Nolan. This drama has a really wonderful cast including Cornel Wilde, Elisha Cook Jr, and James Gleason. The groups tries to stay alive on a plantation when they get attacked by the enemy. Manila Calling has some great action and a few heart wrenching scenes. It's one of my favorite WW2 movies and one of Carole's best performances. TEN STARS!!!!! For years this movie was very hard to find but now Manila Calling is available on DVD from amazon and movies unlimited. I highly recommend it :-)

Manilla calling chronicles the activities of a group of Americans, cut off and trapped in Luzon by the Japanese advance. They elected to hide in the mountains rather than surrender and go to Japanese prison camps. Lloyd Nolan plays a role as a tough guy with a soft heart. It has little hype and no revisionist history, an accurate account of how it was.

During the late 60's & early 70's N.Y. WWOR CHANNEL 9 would run the same movie every day for a week (this was a long time before VCR's). I would watch it every chance I had, unfortunately it's not currently available in any format. This movie is where Steven Spielberg came up with the ever so "original" sniper praying to hit his mark. As I remember the soldiers were stationed in a barbedwire fenced compound which reminds me of the T.V. series Daktari. The "japs" would snipe at the Americans, and in turn the Scottish sniper would slip out and hunt the "japs". Other films of this quality; BATAAN, GUNG HO! (1943)

Lloyd Nolan (Lucky) leads a small group of US guerrillas engaged in warfare against the invading Japanese in the Phillipines. The purpose of the guerrillas is debated and it is finally agreed that they are there to broadcast the truth to the world.

The main problem with this film is the manner which most of the cast play it. Lloyd Nolan seems the only one taking this situation seriously. Elisha Cook Jr (Gillman) seems more interested in his pet monkey and chicken, which is ridiculous, and showgirl Carole Landis (Edna) fires out one too many wisecracks as do many others in the cast. This is a serious war situation! Something else – Cornel Wilde (Jeff) is the group's leader for most of the film but just doesn't have the presence and is totally undermined in his position by Nolan who seems the far more commanding personality. Bad casting. The story is flag-waving propaganda with a corny broadcast at the end. It's OK to watch but I was disappointed with this effort.

Lloyd Bridges and a handful of American and Filipino guerillas hold out in the jungle hills of the Philippines. Some Americans who didn't make it out with MacArthur show up, including Carole Landis.

It's a handsomely cast 20th Century-Fox B movie, with James Gleason, Cornell Wilde, Ralph Bird, Elisha Cook Jr., and Harold Huber filling out the cast, but when I wasn't lusting for Miss Landis, I was riveted by Nolan, who's always believable in this sort of movie, as an ordinary Joe caught up in a situation and doing a job against impossible odds. That's just the way Americans like to think of themselves, like Bogart but without the world-weary despair that paralyzes him at the start of the movie.

It should be noted that the movie doesn't pull any punches. Bridges' position and those who stick with him are hopeless. The best he or anyone can do is go out fighting, and shouting defiance against the Japanese. Would that we could all do as much in those situations which overwhelm us!