Wake Island (1942)

Thanks for the memories!

Great Film overall

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

In December 1941, after bombing Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Navy attacks an American Marine Base in the Wake Island in the Pacific. A small troop fights to defend the island aware that it is impossible to keep the position."Wake Island" is a dated movie of war propaganda with a corny story of heroism and patriotism. It is easy to understand the need of using the cinema industry to elevate the morale of the population, but presently "Wake Island" is a forgettable war movie. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Nossos Mortos Serão Vingados" ("Our Dead Will Be Revenged")

The battle for Wake Island concluded just before Christmas of 1941 and news from the place was pretty sketchy. It would not be known until after the war ended exactly what happened on the place.In many ways it was worse than what's shown here. With no help coming at all from the mainland USA or from Pearl Harbor which was licking its own wounds, there was an unconditional surrender declared. The construction workers who were building a base on the island when war broke out were all summarily executed as spies. The few Marines who did survive, survived in horrible captivity, probably made worse by the fact that America never tried to take the island back. When they had the overwhelming naval superiority, the Japanese were starved out, but so were the prisoners they had.So with an incomplete story at best, the writers at Paramount had free reign to do an Alamo like story and proceeded to do just that. Brian Donlevy is a stalwart Marine Colonel who clashes repeatedly with Albert Dekker the head of the construction workers. Comic relief is provided by Robert Preston and William Bendix as a pair of tough marines who joke about Bendix's impending discharge which occurs right on the day of Pearl Harbor.Bendix was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and while he's pretty funny in the part, when you consider he did a highly effective dramatic role in The Glass Key that same year, I'm wondering if the Academy put him up for the wrong film. He lost that year to Van Heflin for Johnny Eager.Wake Island is a dated story, dated but entertaining. Maybe someone will do a film of the real story there, the horrible captivity of our prisoners, just like what they endured in the Phillipines.

This is a great WW II film about an Island in the Pacific where the United States lost a great deal of their Marine soldiers. The Japs had attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and their were a few Islands that the United States had bases on in the Pacific. The Japs went to the White House to visit FDR and talked about peace and prosperity, and as soon as they left Washington, D.C. the bombs started attacking and making IT A DAY TO REMEMBER at Pearl Harbor! Brian Donlevy, (Maj.Geoffrey Caton),"Waco",'66, was a commander over the grounds forces and Air Force on Wake Island, Robert Preston,(Pvt. Joe Doyle),"The Music Man",'62 were great supporting actors along with Albert Dekker,(Shad McClosky),"Kiss Me Deadly",55, and William Bendix,(Pvt. Smacksie),"The Life of Riley",'53 TV Series. This film is not a documentary film and has some Hollywood versions, but it still is a great film with fantastic actors. There are also plenty of vintage fighting scenes between the Jap Pilots and the Americans.

This isn't too bad if you don't mind war time propaganda and like some of the other war movies like Bataan and Guadalcanal Diary. This one was directed by John Farrow and doesn't have any really big stars like Brian Donlevy and William Bendix. The movie starts out right before pearl harbor in which a new captain shows up, played by Donlevy, and some of the men are bored. Some of them want to leave but after Pearl Harbor they all want to stay. Then the Japanese come and start bombing 'em and they are running out of supplies fast. This movie is just like Bataan but it's hard to tell which one is better. It's a decent movie and it's great that they don't make any more wartime propaganda pictures any more.