U. S. Marine Corps Major Steve Lockhart (Pat O'Brien) and Captain Dan Craig (Robert Ryan) survive the battle of Guadalcanal. Dan falls for Lt. Ellen Foster (Ruth Hussey) during a furlough in Australia, but both he and Steve get sent to the new Marine training facility back in the U. S. After a period of time spent training new recruits, they all look forward to taking the fight to the Japanese once again. Also featuring Frank McHugh, Barton MacLane, Richard Martin, Martha Vickers, Russell Wade, Robert Andersen, Cliff Clark, Selmer Jackson, and Blake Edwards.
Much of this is unexceptional wartime morale boosting, but there were a few sections that I liked, such as the various training bits, including a tour of the base kitchen, a class on edible plants and insects of the Pacific islands, and a class teaching the Japanese language, which is something certainly useful but that I don't recall seeing in other movies of the sort. I also liked the final battle sequences. The director made the unusual decision to film both this and the scenes at the beginning as night scenes, which may have been a cost-cutting measure, but it added some atmosphere, too. Shortly after filming was completed, Robert Ryan joined the Marine Corps for real and didn't appear in another movie for three years.
Much of this is unexceptional wartime morale boosting, but there were a few sections that I liked, such as the various training bits, including a tour of the base kitchen, a class on edible plants and insects of the Pacific islands, and a class teaching the Japanese language, which is something certainly useful but that I don't recall seeing in other movies of the sort. I also liked the final battle sequences. The director made the unusual decision to film both this and the scenes at the beginning as night scenes, which may have been a cost-cutting measure, but it added some atmosphere, too. Shortly after filming was completed, Robert Ryan joined the Marine Corps for real and didn't appear in another movie for three years.