Tonight we went back to Bataan, not with John Wayne or the Fighting Seabees, but with a group of Army nurses, led by Claudette Colbert. The movie was "So Proudly We Hail" (1943), a different kind of WW2 picture that tells the story from a female perspective. Colbert and her team, which also includes Paulette Goddard and Veronica Lake, are being shipped out to Hawaii in December 1941, expecting to be stationed there. But then Pearl Harbor happens and they are moved instead to the Philippines, where casualties are mounting as the U.S. enters the war in the Pacific theater. The nurses catch a break at first, when they are ordered to report to an old encampment far from the front lines. Some of them had prior experience at this base before the war, so to them it feels like a home away from home (and keep in mind that the US presence in the Philippines dates back to the turn of the century).
The first hour of the film is spent developing relationships. Goddard meets a hulking Marine, played by the infamous Sonny Tufts. He was a man of impressive physique who usually played "aww schucks" types, and here he is dubbed "Kansas" by Paulette Goddard, who keeps the wisecracks coming in the early going. She is a hottie who walks around after dark in a non-regulation black lace nightgown. This drives Kansas wild, but Goddard wants to keep things platonic. She's afraid of falling in love with him, because he might get killed. That possibility, of course, is the underlying theme to all of the romances, and it was doubly true in real life, when so many young women - at home and overseas - married their guys just before they were shipped off to fight, never knowing if they would see them again. How horrible must that have been?
Colbert doesn't have time to fall in love. She's the head nurse and has several tents worth of wounded soldiers to tend to. But one day in the course of her duties she meets the handsome George Reeves. He will eventually become Superman, and already possesses the power of romantic charm. It doesn't hurt that he resembles Elvis, either. Try as she might, Colbert can't resist his overtures, and by the time he has healed and is ready to report back to duty, they are head over heels for each other.
Morale is a constant issue in the ward, and there is one nurse who is bringing everyone down with her negative attitude. Veronica Lake is silent and spiteful. She won't talk to anyone, except to scold, and though she performs all her duties well, her sullenness is causing dissension in the ranks. One day, she gets into a tussle with Paulette Goddard. The other nurses break it up, and by this time Lieutenant Colbert has had enough. She reads Lake the riot act, but still can't break her frozen facade. Finally, Colbert gives up and uses cold shoulder tactics, telling Lake, "I don't like you. One more bit of trouble and you'll be transferred out". This does the trick. Finally Lake responds, saying : "Good! Maybe they'll send me to a place where I can kill Japs, because that's all I want to do". I interject here to remind you that the use of slurs in war movies of the era, commonplace at the time, were seen as legitimate and understandable, given the recent horror of Pearl Harbor and also the ruthless tactics of Japan's military. In the movie, they are shown bombing an Army hospital. Nowdays, of course, we as a people do not condone the use of racial slurs or stereotypes in any way. Japan is our ally and their people our friends, but WW2 brought out hatred on all sides, and it was reflected in the use of language.
At any rate, back to the movie. Veronica Lake's confession gives us, finally, some insight into what is troubling her. Colbert draws it all out. It seems that Lake was engaged to a sailor stationed at Pearl. They were to be married on Christmas Day. He was killed in the Japanese attack, leaving Lake alone and heartbroken. She has hated "the Japs" ever since. By the time she finishes her story, Lake is in tears. Colbert holds her while she sobs, and you might need a hankie at this point yourself. Veronica Lake was a fantastic young actress who could do anything from Screwball comedy to Noir to a heavily dramatic role like this one. It's a shame she is remembered mostly because of her hairstyle, but that's how actresses were promoted in those days. Ann Sheridan, another great, was known as "The 'Oomph' Girl", a moniker she detested. Anyhow, Lake - who had a short and tragic life - should've been nominated for an Oscar in this role. In the film, after confessing to Colbert, her demeanor undergoes a sea change. Suddenly she is even volunteering for duty in the Japanese POW ward. The other nurses still don't trust her and fear she is gonna carry out her original threat, and Lake does feel the hatred return......but only momentarily. Then she remembers her oath, which in part states that nurses are "angels of mercy". After that, she cares for the prisoners no differently than her American patients. She will eventually become a heroine to her team, though I can't tell you how.
"So Proudly We Hail" is an extremely patriotic movie, dedicated to the bravery of the nurses, who performed their duties under the most relentless assaults imaginable. I must say that I was startled by the long sequences depicting the Japanese aerial attacks on the Bataan peninsula. I'm not sure I've ever seen so much bombing in any WW2 movie. Their base is getting pounded, so the nurses must attempt to flee to the island of Corregidor. This challenge will lead to the conclusion of the movie. Some will make it, others won't. Their romances will survive or perish by the same odds.
I give the film Two Big Thumbs Up. Though it's long - 126 minutes - and though in context it could be considered a War Propaganda movie (in the style of John Wayne's WW2 flicks), it nonetheless was very affecting, and again the scenes of combat are realistic and overwhelming. The acting, especially on the part of the three leads, is flawless, and you even get some comic relief from Paulette Goddard. Filmed in moody black and white, "So Proudly We Hail" is a war film not to be missed. It shows us the other heroes of World War Two, who carried no guns and did not fight, but were every bit as courageous, and important, as the men who did. ////
That's all for now. I'm gonna head over to the Libe for more movies, then back to Washington D.C....um, I mean Pearl's. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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