Marine Raiders

The last film Robert Ryan made at RKO before he temporarily quit movies for the real thing. It benefits from photography by later film noir maestro Nicholas Musuraca, with whom Ryan would work again under more auspicious circumstances (and also contains a fleeting appearance by Martha MacVickers, soon to play psychotic nympho Carmen Sternwood in 'The Big Sleep').

Although Pat O'Brien's officially the star it's Ryan who carries the film, and it was already clear he was no ordinary hunk.

I was bored during the watching of this film, because it remains a propaganda war film from Hollywood and destined to promote the US Army. You have Robert Ryan and Pat O'Brien, so it's not totally useless and I expected far far more footage stock shots in this war fikm, totally predictable. I sometimes used the fast forward button on my VCR - yes I only got it in my library in VHS, from the late eighties, and I totally forgotten it. I can understand why now. Harold Schuster is also a director from whom I tracked the movies down. But he made more interesting films: DRAGONWELLS MASSACRE or LOOPHOLE for instance or JACK SLADE and RETURN OF JACK SLADE. His last part of career, I ignored his first one, including some FLICKA adventures. Rubbish....

Sometimes it's hard to keep track of all the pro-America war movies Hollywood cranked out during the height of WWII. A lot of them had similar names, too! Pride of the Marines, Salute to the Marines, Marine Raiders, Call Out the Marines, We Are the Marines, and maybe more, were all made between 1942 and 1945. The one in the middle of the list stars Pat O'Brien as a commander who oversees training leading up to battle in Guadalcanal. He and his captain, Robert Ryan, aren't thrilled about taking all the new boys under their wing. They want to get to the fighting - but as we all know, there will be plenty of time for that.

Although the main focus of the movie is the Marines, honestly, the romance is more memorable. I never thought I'd see the movie where Robert Ryan leads a gusto-filled waltz. But in Marine Raiders, he dances with Ruth Hussey until the restaurant owner kicks them out in the wee hours of the morning. Robert grins, "We've got a lot more swirling to do!" and keeps dancing. How is it possible that such an adorable, sweet fellow would get typecast as a bad guy the rest of his career? Maybe after he joined the Marines (right after this movie!) and became a drill sergeant, the men he trained were just used to his toughness and shouting. Or maybe it was just Crossfire. Crossfire was his first villainous role, and I don't think he ever bounced back from it.

Ruth is dutifully doing her part for the war effort, and they go through the pros and cons of getting married before the war and risking Ruth becoming a widow, or waiting until Robert returns - if he does. Ruth is a very patriotic lady, and her final scene probably had the women in the audience (during 1944) reaching for their handkerchiefs. This movie has a clear message, one that rings as true now as it did then: Bless them all!

Up until World War II the US Marines was an elite fighting force and under the control of the Navy. It is still that. But between the World Wars and under the leadership of one far sighted commandant John Lejeune the Marines developed as specialty mission, amphibious landing. When the Pacific war came and would be fought across the ocean from several directions toward Japan, the Marines became invaluable with their training for amphibious landings across those countless Pacific islands. It became in fact four divisions because the USA needed a lot of Marines.

That's what Marine Raiders is all about. A couple of veterans of the Corps, Pat O'Brien and Robert Ryan, are ordered back from combat to train what the Marines hope will be half a million of them. O'Brien says it's orders, but Ryan really resents being pulled from combat. However in combat he could never have met Ruth Hussey and gotten things going with her.

Knowing that background which I described makes you understand Marine Raiders a lot better. It still holds up well and those jungle combat scenes once again have RKO utilizing the old King Kong sets. And it's historically accurate even if it doesn't give all the background I did.

A group of Marines fights the Japanese in Guadalcanal. Maj. Steve Lockhart (Pat O'Brien) tries to guide Capt. Dan Craig (Robert Ryan) through the difficult times. While on leave, Craig meets Lt. Ellen Foster (Ruth Hussey).

This was released a year before the end of the war in the Pacific. It is light at times with the comedy and the romance. There is war footage but it seems intent on rounding out the story with romantic melodrama and comedic scenes. The actors do get an action-packed ending although the miniatures do look fake next to the real thing. The studio set is fine for what it is. This is fine war melodrama.