This film is supposed to be a tribute to the fighting spirit of the United States Marines during World War II. It has the usual rah rah action and flag waving stuff but there is a strange subtext to the film involving the lives of the marines in a platoon trying to take a Japanese controlled island.
For a film about the tough guy marines there certainly seem to be a lot of emotional problems among this group. Richard Widmark is the squad leader who is taking pills because he is suffering from "psychological migraines." The company corporal is a coward, one marine loses his eyesight, another is a gun nut who goes out of control and tries to murder some Japanese prisoners. This bunch is hardly the pride of the marines. One wonders in the Pentagon actually read this script before agreeing to provide technical support to the production.
The film was directed by Lewis Milestone who was probably past his prime as an important director but is still professionally assembled by him. As I said an odd bird of a gung ho fighting movie.
Written by Michael Blankfort, running time 113 minutes.
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