Truly Dreadful Film

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

"Bataan" is an outstanding World War II film. Many decades later, it remains one of the most realistic films of the war ever made by Hollywood. For an early WW II film, made when the U.S. had just been in the war a little over a year, "Bataan" is uncanny in its realism. Especially in the circumstances and portrayals of men and material. One wonders how much the MGM people knew and were aware of some details. Were these portrayals intentional or was much of this coincidence? More on this later. Other reviewers have noted the tremendous performances. All of the cast excel in their roles. Robert Taylor and Lloyd Nolan stand out. They play Sgt. Bill Dane and Corp. Barney Todd, respectively. This film clearly has the best hand-to-hand combat action of any modern war movie ever made. The only slight drawback - which keeps the film from earning 10 stars, is the lingering feel of the stage. This movie is clearly shot on a sound stage. Although it is well made and realistic in appearance, one still is aware that it's a set. Perhaps that's due mostly to the camera work and direction, where everything is kept close in on the men of the special squad. And, on the sound as well, which lacks any background noise of the outdoors. Only two short scenes have a cutaway view of the bridge the men are guarding and trying to stop the Japanese from rebuilding. Yet that closeness of camera work also enhances the sense of reality of these guys as being who they are and where they are.Now, for more on the reality of the men and material. The movie takes place during the Battle of Bataan, which lasted from Jan. 1 to April 9, 1942. It was the last ditch effort to stall the Japanese who had attacked the Philippines shortly after bombing Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. WW II already was two years old in Europe, and the Japanese conquest of Asia and the Pacific was four years old. But strong sentiments against going to war persisted in the U.S. And, it was not ready for war. Even though Gen. Douglas MacArthur boasted that his 130,000 troops in the Philippines would repel the Japanese, the Allies were no match for Imperial Japan. The Encyclopedia Britannica briefly describes the Allied forces in the Philippines at the time. It says MacArthur's forces "consisted of tens of thousands of ill-trained and ill-equipped Filipino reservists and some 22,000 American troops." The Americans were "an amalgam" of garrison GIs with no combat experience and a wide assortment of others. They included artillerymen, pilots and ground crews without planes, and sailors. The sailors came from the ships that were in port and destroyed when the Japanese bombed Manila. So, the Allies were nothing like the organized divisions of battle-hardened Japanese that landed on Luzon.The ages of the men in the volunteer squad also reflected the reality of the time, with the possible exception of Thomas Mitchell as Corp. Jake Feingold. He was 50 years old when this movie was made, and overweight. He would have retired from the Army 10 years earlier. Still, there were occasional hangers-on, men who made the Army and Navy their home. Some were busted in rank and others just never advanced. Taylor's age of 31 was just right when the movie was made. He had been in the service at least seven years. Nolan would have been a little old, but he went back at least seven years and probably was a career GI. George Murphy was 40, but he might have joined as so many other men did to become a pilot when war broke out in Europe. The rest of the men were in their late 20s and 30s. None of these men had been drafted for service because the draft for WW II had not yet been established. So, they represent the normal flow of enlistees who try the service for a few years or more. The equipment shown in the film also is authentic for the time and place. The common American M1 helmet wasn't produced until the U.S. entered the war; and troops stationed around the world before then still had the WW I helmet. Likewise for many of the weapons. While the M-1 semi-automatic rifle was distributed in 1937, the old WW I water-cooled machineguns, as shown in this film, had not yet been replaced by the new air-cooled weapons. Although a fictitious account, the stand and fighting of this volunteer squad is likely a very real depiction of the war in the Philippines. The movie obviously had strong propaganda value when shown in the U.S. in mid-1943. This is a classic film that belongs in any serious war film library.

What is it with you people i just don't understand.Everyone is saying Robert walker was annoying and its pure bull. He is the typical young man....excited to be in the war.....excited to kill the enemy...sensitive and funny. Walkers acting was top notch.....the scene where he breaks down after writing a letter to mum....awesome. I looked at all his expressions in the film and they were so real...so authentic. Baatan is a good movie superb cast NOLAN TAYLOR...even DesiArnaz makes me wish he had done more of this type of role.A good ending splendid visual effect.....TAY Garnett did it again. This with So PROUDLY We Hail has got to be one of the greatest war movie ever.....and i also forgot the wonderful work of Thomas Mitchell and George Murphy. Bravo

The film talks about the Pacific battle , during WWII , concerning the defenders of Bataan but Japan has just invaded . A small group of soldiers (Thomas Mitchell , LLoyd Nolan , Desi Arnaz , among others) flee from Japanese repeatedly attack and they head for blowing-up a bridge on the Bataan location and their final destination : Corregidor . The captain (Lee Bowman) dies and the top-sergeant (Robert Taylor) takes command along with an Airbone lieutenant (George Murphy). The military unit surrounded by the Japanese in a foggy set , lush jungle and progressively dwindling group . The defenders gave a few days for posterior victories and future US conquest like Midway , Island Salomon and Bismark . The Bataan of the film's title refers to both the World War II Battle of Bataan and the place Bataan which is a Central Luzon region province on Luzon island in the Philippines which occupies the whole of the Bataan Peninsula on the island . This movie's dedication states that it is dedicated to the heroes of Bataan. This classic warlike movie is nicely starred by Robert Taylor at one of his best roles as a tough sergeant , he's accompanied by a plethora of first-rate secondaries . This exciting actioner warfare completed with slice of military stereotypes although some characters are very one-dimensional , as well as presenting an African American in an intelligent and sympathetic manner , attempting to avoid any racial speeches in the script . The original plot belongs to ¨Lost patrol¨ (1934) by John Ford , whose screenplay has been pretty imitated and remade many times but it's still a magnificent entertainment . In fact , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer paid RKO a lot of money for the right to use scenes from Lost patrol in this movie . As ¨Lost patrol¨ was subsequently remade and reworked several times : ¨Sahara¨ (by Zoltan Korda) with scenarios in Libya desert ; ¨Last of Comanches¨ (Andre De Toth) in California desert ; and even part of ¨Flight of Phoenix¨ (Robert Aldrich) in Sahara desert , and , of course , this ¨Bataan¨(Tay Garnett) in Philippines jungle . This is one of a handful of feature films that have featured the story of the World War II Battle of Bataan , they include ¨So proudly we hail¡¨ by Mark Sandrich (1943) ; ¨They were expendable¨ (1945) by John Ford and ¨Back to Bataan¨ (1945) by Edward Dmytryck . The film is set into a lush , abundant jungle with a dense fog made by usual Metro Goldwin Mayer production designer , Cedric Gibbons , and it contains an atmospheric as well as thrilling musical score by Bronislau Kaper . The motion picture was professionally directed by Tay Garnett, a good Hollywood craftsman.The actual deeds about Bataan concern an unsuccessful attempt by US and Filipino troops under General Douglas MacArthur to defend the peninsular against the Japanese 1 Jan-9 April 1942 . Following the surrender of Bataan , MacArthur was evacuated , but Allies captives were force-marched 95 km/60 mi to the nearest railhead in the Bataan Death March,ill-treatment by the Japanese guards during the march killed about 16.000 US and Filipino troops .

In addition to Bataan being one of the finest World War II films ever done, it also marked the final transformation of Robert Taylor from romantic leading man to tough action star. After this one Taylor, NEVER got cast in any powder puff roles.He's a tough, believable army sergeant who's in command of a squad that's been cobbled together from remnants of other squads and given a suicide rear guard mission to hold off the Japanese from taking and crossing a key bridge. Some of the other men of his squad are Lloyd Nolan, Thomas Mitchell, Robert Walker, Barry Nelson, Desi Arnaz. There's an army pilot with a plane to be repaired played by George Murphy and when Captain Lee Bowman is killed Taylor is in command.So they hold the Japanese off, the Battle of Bataan in microcosm, hoping for aid that never came because the United States had no aid to give at that point. In the tradition of The Alamo, they all go down, one at a time.Of the cast I'd single out Lloyd Nolan and Desi Arnaz. Nolan is another army veteran, a hardbitten hardcase almost a mirror image of Taylor. Their scenes have some real bite to them. But Lloyd Nolan was never bad in anything he ever did.Desi Arnaz is quite a revelation. His accent is pretty thick, he never got to be a Latin Lover leading man like Fernando Lamas or Ricardo Montalban did. In fact that accent was part of his whole shtick with his wife later on in I Love Lucy. But Arnaz shows her he was capable of being far more than the patient but sometimes exasperated Ricky Ricardo. Too bad he never got more opportunities like Bataan.No derring do heroics in Bataan. These are ordinary people of the greatest generation doing a job that had to be done.