Les anges de miséricorde

So Proudly We Hail was Paramount Pictures tribute to the nurses who were tending the casualties at Bataan. The film got four Oscar nominations and great roles for some of Paramout's female stars like Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, and Veronica Lake, all playing nurses and also joined by Barbara Britton, Mary Treen, Dorothy Adams, Ann Doran and so many others.

Claudette is in charge of this group which sets out from San Francisco for assignment at Pearl Harbor. But the Japanese attack diverts the ship for the Phillipines where the nurses are rushed into tending the casualties on Bataan and Corregidor.

Having gone to the Phillipines as a tourist and having seen both places I thought Paramount did a remarkable job in re-creating both areas. The battle and evacuation scenes were very well done, one of the nominations that So Proudly We Hail got was for Special Effects.

Colbert gets herself involved with George Reeves and this was probably his best big screen performance. What an incredible tragedy that he went in the service and could not get his career momentum back as so many others did. Of course we all know he went on to be television's Superman and the tragedy that came out of that.

The military's no fraternization policy got a second wink when Goddard gets herself involved with Sonny Tufts in the film that got him his first notice. He plays a former football star from Kansas and appropriately named same in the film with a kind of goofball charm that was his trademark. Now wartime audiences either didn't notice or didn't care, but his New England accent stood out all over for a guy who was supposed to be from Kansas. Tufts was from the old New England WASP family that among other things endowed Tufts University. Why didn't they just call him Boston for the film?

The other Oscar nominations that So Proudly We Hail got was for Best Supporting Actress for Paulette Goddard, for Screenplay, and for Original Story. The film has held up remarkably well over the past several generations and it's a great tribute still to our army nurses in any war.

Hollywood deserves a big hand of applause for making SO PROUDLY WE HAIL at a time when the U.S. was still involved in WW2 and our struggles to overcome the Japanese in the Pacific. It opened to popular acclaim at New York's Radio City Music Hall where it played to contented audiences who were both entertained and impressed by the war realism depicted as nurses undergo the rigors of work among the wounded.

It's still pretty impressive, although some of the flag-waving gets a little heavy and the suds flow pretty freely when the nurses discover romance. Claudette Colbert leads the pack of nurses with a nobility only Claudette could demonstrate--and sincerity. In lesser roles, Veronica Lake and Paulette Goddard acquit themselves well, with Goddard receiving a Supporting Actress nomination.

Sonny Tufts achieved instant popularity with his role as the bumbling Kansas and George Reeves had one of the best roles of his career as Colbert's love interest.

What makes the film remarkable for its time is the way it handles all of the action sequences--and there are plenty of them. The explosions don't look as if they're happening on a studio set but in the jungles and terrain of the story--and they're mighty effective in their realism, something even today's audiences can appreciate.

On the debit side, the story is a little overlong and the flashback technique might not appeal to everyone. Still, it has holding power and is an example of one of the finer films of the period to deal with the role of women during World War II.

Way ahead of its time. Intelligently written, movingly acted, extremely compelling battle scenes for a film of its era. Excellent, realistic performances by Veronica Lake, Paulette Goddard, Sonny Tufts, Walter Abel, Hugh Ho Chang, even George Reeves. I don't understand why this film isn't mentioned among the best of American-made war movies.

Some reviewers here have called it "propaganda," but it is hardly that in the context of the time. I was actually quite surprised by its even-handedness. (Yes, there are non-PC references to "Japs," as with every other American war movie of the era.) Disregard any disparaging critiques posted here and SEE THIS FILM.

Another fine film from AMC's 1998 "Veterans' Day Movie Marathon."

This one details (in flashbacks) the daily ordeals of a company of Red Cross nurses serving in Bataan and Corregidor during WWII. For a change, Paulette Goddard plays the nurse with most of the male admirers (Sonny Tufts in particular), with Veronica Lake showing up late in a decidedly unsexy role (about which I can't say much more than that, lest I ruin it for you). Both offer up career performances, if that's saying much. Their leader, durable talent Claudette Colbert, holds the troop together throughout, despite numerous tragedies. Helping to prop *her* up is her persistent suitor George Reeves (later of the TV series, "Superman"). Interesting for the fact that it was shot while the war was still raging ~ so there are a lot of decidedly non-PC references to "Japs" ~ but this is a real salute to the unsung women who served in "the big one." A must-rent.

4 Stars.

Without some of the sappy romances, I would have rated this powerful movie a couple of stars higher. That's only my tastes in films. For the ladies, they might like this "war movie," a lot more because it pays tribute mainly nurses and all the romances are probably just the ticket.

But for 126 minutes, I would have liked to see a bit less courtship scenes, which included some corny dialog. I realize they needed to break up the action scenes and give something for the females to watch, but they often made no sense. For example, near the end Colbert marries George Reeves (yes, Superman) even though she admits she knows almost nothing about the man!!.

I did enjoy watching Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard and Vernoica Lake, however. All of them looked very pretty. Lake was missing her peek-a-boo long blonde hair but probably - at least facially - looked better than I've ever seen her. Her role was the most interesting.

The movie succeeds in paying tribute to unsung heroes of any war: the nurses. They were an extremely hard-worked, under-appreciated group during World War II, so this tribute is well- earned and I'm glad to have seen it. God bless those ladies who made such sacrifices.