Bataan (1943 film)
Encyclopedia
Bataan is a war film
about the defense of the Bataan Peninsula
at the start of World War II
. It was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
, directed by Tay Garnett
and produced by Irving Starr, with Dore Schary
as executive producer. It starred Robert Taylor
, Lloyd Nolan
, Thomas Mitchell
and Robert Walker.
followed the Japanese December, 1941 invasion of the Philippines
and lasted from January 1 to April 9, 1942. The American and Filipino forces retreated from Manila to the nearby, mountainous Bataan peninsula for a desperate last stand, hoping for a relief force. However, the Allies were being driven back in all areas of the Pacific theater and none could be sent. After three months of stubborn resistance, the starving and malaria-ridden defenders surrendered and were forced to undertake the infamous Bataan Death March
.
is conducting a fighting retreat. A high bridge spans a ravine on the Bataan peninsula. After the army and some civilians cross, a group of thirteen hastily-assembled volunteers from different units is assigned to blow it up and delay Japanese rebuilding efforts as long as possible. The soldiers are a mixed lot, including a Mexican-American California National Guardsman Pvt. Felix Ramirez (Desi Arnaz
), Pvt. Wesley Epps, a black demolitions expert (Kenneth Lee Spencer
), Pvt. Matthew Hardy, a conscientious objector
in the Medical Corps
(Phillip Terry
), Pvt. Francis X. Matowski, an engineer (Barry Nelson
), Pvt. "Yankee" Salazar, a Philippine Scout
(Alex Havier), Pvt. Sam Molloy, a cook (Tom Dugan
), Corporal Jake Feingold (Thomas Mitchell
) (Chemical Corps) and Seaman Leonard Purckett, a naive young navy musician (Robert Walker). Sergeant Bill Dane (Robert Taylor
) is from the regular 31st Infantry, while Corporal Barney Todd (Lloyd Nolan
) claims to be a signalman
. However, Dane suspects him of being a pre-war acquaintance, a soldier accused of murder who had escaped while being guarded by then-military police
man Dane.
They dig in on a hillside and blow up the bridge, but their commander, cavalry Captain Henry Lassiter (Lee Bowman
), is killed by a sniper, leaving Dane in charge. One by one, the defenders are killed, with one, Pvt. Felix Ramirez, succumbing to malaria
.
Army Air Corps
pilot
Lieutenant
Steve Bentley (played by future Senator George Murphy
) and his Filipino mechanic, Corporal Juan Katigbak (Roque Espiritu), work frantically to repair an airplane. They succeed, but Katigbak is killed and Bentley is mortally wounded. He has them load explosives aboard, takes off and deliberately crashes his plane into the bridge's foundation.
The remaining soldiers repel a massive frontal assault. Epps and Feingold are killed in the battle, with Epps being beheaded by a samurai sword. Purckett and Todd are later killed by Japanese soldiers who had feigned being dead, leaving only Sergeant Dane. Before he dies, Todd admits to Dane that he is actually Dan Burns, the soldier who had escaped from Dane's custody. Dane stoically digs his own marked grave beside those of his fallen comrades, waits in it, and fires at the onrushing enemy as the final credits roll.
Scenes from the 1934
RKO film The Lost Patrol
, directed by John Ford
, were reused in this film.
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
about the defense of the Bataan Peninsula
Bataan Peninsula
The Bataan Peninsula is a rocky extension of the Zambales Mountains, on Luzon in the Philippines. It separates the Manila Bay from the South China Sea...
at the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, directed by Tay Garnett
Tay Garnett
Tay Garnett was an American film director and writer.Born in Los Angeles, California, Garnett served as a naval aviator in World War I and entered films as a screenwriter in 1920. He was a gagwriter for Mack Sennett and Hal Roach, then joined Pathé and began to direct films in 1928...
and produced by Irving Starr, with Dore Schary
Dore Schary
Isadore "Dore" Schary was an American motion picture director, writer, and producer, and playwright who became head of production at MGM and eventually president of the studio...
as executive producer. It starred Robert Taylor
Robert Taylor (actor)
Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
, Lloyd Nolan
Lloyd Nolan
Lloyd Benedict Nolan was an American film and television actor.-Biography:Nolan was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Margaret and James Nolan, who was a shoe manufacturer...
, Thomas Mitchell
Thomas Mitchell (actor)
Thomas Mitchell was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of Gerald O'Hara, the father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford's Stagecoach, and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life...
and Robert Walker.
Historical background
The Battle of BataanBattle of Bataan
The Battle of Bataan represented the most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II. The capture of the Philippine Islands was crucial to Japan's effort to control the Southwest Pacific, seize the resource-rich Dutch East Indies, and protect its Southeast...
followed the Japanese December, 1941 invasion of the Philippines
Battle of the Philippines (1941-42)
The Philippines Campaign or the Battle of the Philippines was the invasion of the Philippines by Japan in 1941–1942 and the defense of the islands by Filipino and United States forces....
and lasted from January 1 to April 9, 1942. The American and Filipino forces retreated from Manila to the nearby, mountainous Bataan peninsula for a desperate last stand, hoping for a relief force. However, the Allies were being driven back in all areas of the Pacific theater and none could be sent. After three months of stubborn resistance, the starving and malaria-ridden defenders surrendered and were forced to undertake the infamous Bataan Death March
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer, by the Imperial Japanese Army, of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners.The march was characterized by...
.
Plot
The US ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
is conducting a fighting retreat. A high bridge spans a ravine on the Bataan peninsula. After the army and some civilians cross, a group of thirteen hastily-assembled volunteers from different units is assigned to blow it up and delay Japanese rebuilding efforts as long as possible. The soldiers are a mixed lot, including a Mexican-American California National Guardsman Pvt. Felix Ramirez (Desi Arnaz
Desi Arnaz
Desi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American musician, actor and television producer. While he gained international renown for leading a Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, he is probably best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American TV series I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to...
), Pvt. Wesley Epps, a black demolitions expert (Kenneth Lee Spencer
Kenneth Lee Spencer
Kenneth Lee Spencer was an American opera singer and actor. A talented bass-baritone, Spencer starred in a few Broadway musicals and musical films in the United States during the 1940s. Frustrated with the racial prejudice he experienced in the United States, Spencer moved to Germany in 1950 where...
), Pvt. Matthew Hardy, a conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
in the Medical Corps
Medical Corps (United States Army)
The Medical Corps of the U.S. Army is a staff corps of the U.S. Army Medical Department consisting of commissioned medical officers – physicians with either an MD or a DO degree, at least one year of post-graduate clinical training, and a state medical license.The MC traces its earliest origins...
(Phillip Terry
Phillip Terry
Phillip Terry was an American actor.He was born Frederick Henry Kormann in San Francisco, California, the only child of German Americans, Frederick Andrew Kormann and Ida Ruth Voll .He attended grade school in Glendale, California. His father was a chemical engineer in the oil fields who moved...
), Pvt. Francis X. Matowski, an engineer (Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond.-Early life:...
), Pvt. "Yankee" Salazar, a Philippine Scout
Philippine Scouts
The Philippine Scouts was a military organization of the United States Army from 1901 until the end of World War II. Made up of native Filipinos assigned to the United States Army Philippine Department, these troops were generally enlisted and under the command of American officers, however, a...
(Alex Havier), Pvt. Sam Molloy, a cook (Tom Dugan
Tom Dugan
Tom Dugan was an Irish film actor. He appeared in over 260 films between 1927 and 1955. He was born in Dublin, Ireland and died in Redlands, California....
), Corporal Jake Feingold (Thomas Mitchell
Thomas Mitchell (actor)
Thomas Mitchell was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of Gerald O'Hara, the father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford's Stagecoach, and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life...
) (Chemical Corps) and Seaman Leonard Purckett, a naive young navy musician (Robert Walker). Sergeant Bill Dane (Robert Taylor
Robert Taylor (actor)
Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
) is from the regular 31st Infantry, while Corporal Barney Todd (Lloyd Nolan
Lloyd Nolan
Lloyd Benedict Nolan was an American film and television actor.-Biography:Nolan was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Margaret and James Nolan, who was a shoe manufacturer...
) claims to be a signalman
Signalman
A Signalman is a person who historically gave signals using flags and light. In modern times the role of Signalmen has evolved and now usually uses electronic communication equipment. Signalmen usually work in rail transport networks, armed forces, or construction...
. However, Dane suspects him of being a pre-war acquaintance, a soldier accused of murder who had escaped while being guarded by then-military police
Military police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
man Dane.
They dig in on a hillside and blow up the bridge, but their commander, cavalry Captain Henry Lassiter (Lee Bowman
Lee Bowman
Lee Bowman was an American film and television actor.Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Bowman graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1936 and began his film career playing a bit part in Swing High, Swing Low .His many film appearances include A Man to Remember , Love Affair , Third...
), is killed by a sniper, leaving Dane in charge. One by one, the defenders are killed, with one, Pvt. Felix Ramirez, succumbing to malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
.
Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Steve Bentley (played by future Senator George Murphy
George Murphy
George Lloyd Murphy was an American dancer, actor, and politician.-Life and career:He was born in New Haven, Connecticut of Irish Catholic extraction, the son of Michael Charles "Mike" Murphy, athletic trainer and coach, and Nora Long. He was educated at Peddie School, Trinity-Pawling School, and...
) and his Filipino mechanic, Corporal Juan Katigbak (Roque Espiritu), work frantically to repair an airplane. They succeed, but Katigbak is killed and Bentley is mortally wounded. He has them load explosives aboard, takes off and deliberately crashes his plane into the bridge's foundation.
The remaining soldiers repel a massive frontal assault. Epps and Feingold are killed in the battle, with Epps being beheaded by a samurai sword. Purckett and Todd are later killed by Japanese soldiers who had feigned being dead, leaving only Sergeant Dane. Before he dies, Todd admits to Dane that he is actually Dan Burns, the soldier who had escaped from Dane's custody. Dane stoically digs his own marked grave beside those of his fallen comrades, waits in it, and fires at the onrushing enemy as the final credits roll.
Cast
- Robert TaylorRobert Taylor (actor)Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
- Sgt. Bill Dane, - 31st Infantry - George MurphyGeorge MurphyGeorge Lloyd Murphy was an American dancer, actor, and politician.-Life and career:He was born in New Haven, Connecticut of Irish Catholic extraction, the son of Michael Charles "Mike" Murphy, athletic trainer and coach, and Nora Long. He was educated at Peddie School, Trinity-Pawling School, and...
- Lt. Steve Bentley - Army Air Corps - Thomas MitchellThomas Mitchell (actor)Thomas Mitchell was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of Gerald O'Hara, the father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford's Stagecoach, and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life...
- Cpl. Jake Feingold - Chemical Corps - Lloyd NolanLloyd NolanLloyd Benedict Nolan was an American film and television actor.-Biography:Nolan was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Margaret and James Nolan, who was a shoe manufacturer...
- Cpl. Barney Todd - Lee BowmanLee BowmanLee Bowman was an American film and television actor.Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Bowman graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1936 and began his film career playing a bit part in Swing High, Swing Low .His many film appearances include A Man to Remember , Love Affair , Third...
- Capt. Henry Lassiter - 26th Cavalry - Robert Walker - Musician 2nd Class Leonard Purckett US Navy
- Desi ArnazDesi ArnazDesi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American musician, actor and television producer. While he gained international renown for leading a Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, he is probably best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American TV series I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to...
- Pvt. Felix Ramirez - 194th Tank Battalion - California Army National Guard - Barry NelsonBarry NelsonBarry Nelson was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond.-Early life:...
- Pvt. F.X. Matowski - Phillip TerryPhillip TerryPhillip Terry was an American actor.He was born Frederick Henry Kormann in San Francisco, California, the only child of German Americans, Frederick Andrew Kormann and Ida Ruth Voll .He attended grade school in Glendale, California. His father was a chemical engineer in the oil fields who moved...
- Pvt. Matthew Hardy - Medical Corps - Roque Espiritu - Cpl. Juan Katigbak - Army Air Corps
- Kenneth Lee SpencerKenneth Lee SpencerKenneth Lee Spencer was an American opera singer and actor. A talented bass-baritone, Spencer starred in a few Broadway musicals and musical films in the United States during the 1940s. Frustrated with the racial prejudice he experienced in the United States, Spencer moved to Germany in 1950 where...
- Pvt. Wesley Epps - Corps of Engineers - Alex Havier - Pvt. Yankee Salazar - Philippine ScoutsPhilippine ScoutsThe Philippine Scouts was a military organization of the United States Army from 1901 until the end of World War II. Made up of native Filipinos assigned to the United States Army Philippine Department, these troops were generally enlisted and under the command of American officers, however, a...
- Tom DuganTom DuganTom Dugan was an Irish film actor. He appeared in over 260 films between 1927 and 1955. He was born in Dublin, Ireland and died in Redlands, California....
- Pvt. Sam Malloy
Production
The presence of a racially integrated fighting force prevented the film's showing in the United States' South.Scenes from the 1934
1934 in film
-Events:*January 26 - Samuel Goldwyn purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.*February 19 - Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade...
RKO film The Lost Patrol
The Lost Patrol (1934 film)
The Lost Patrol is a 1934 war film made by RKO. It was directed and produced by John Ford, with Merian C. Cooper as executive producer and Cliff Reid as associate producer. The screenplay was by Dudley Nichols, adapted by Garrett Fort from the novel Patrol by Philip MacDonald. The music score was...
, directed by John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
, were reused in this film.
Reception
According to one historian, the film "successfully made white viewers aware... of the inherent sadism in the American lynching ritual". By the 1940s publications were able to mass distribute photographs taken of hanged men, so there was a "rewriting of the respective relations of the black and the Asian to the white norm, as the film adjusted to a wartime context [which raised questions of integration]."See also
- List of American films of 1943
- Back to BataanBack to BataanBack to Bataan is a World War II war film produced by Robert Fellows, directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring John Wayne and Anthony Quinn. It was produced by RKO Radio Pictures. It depicts events that took place after the Battle of Bataan on the island of Luzon in the Philippines...
, a 19451945 in filmThe year 1945 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring a ghost named Casper.* With Rossellini's Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins....
RKO film directed by Edward DmytrykEdward DmytrykEdward Dmytryk was an American film director who was amongst the Hollywood Ten, a group of blacklisted film industry professionals who served time in prison for being in contempt of Congress during the McCarthy-era 'red scare'.-Early life:Dmytryk was born in Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada,...
and starring John WayneJohn WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
which returns to the same setting and theme.