Gung Ho! (1943)

With the USA still reeling from the bombing of Pearl Harbour, their military decides to set up a squad of highly trained soldiers to head deep into Japanese occupied territory to engage in some perilous sabotage activities. Led by the determined and experienced “Thorwald” (Randolph Scott), a squadron is formed - many of whom are civilians - from scratch and trained in all of the arts of jungle warfare before embarking to face an enemy whom they know will outnumber and outgun them, entrenched on a pacific island. The dramatic elements here aren’t really anything special, not was Scott ever especially potent on screen, I think. What does make this a little more interesting is the provenance of the story - a variation of this platoon really did exist, and the battle photography towards the end really does illustrate how downright dangerous their task was and at how merciless their foe was in attempting to repel their attack. There are maybe just a few too many rousing battle cry speeches that are intended more for the auditorium than anyone on set, but there is also quite a degree of authenticity to the assembly of familiar faces representing so many of the men whose reasons for volunteering for this mission are as varied as their characters. Sure, it’s borderline wartime propaganda, but Ray Enright has managed to marry the patriotic message with an action adventure that’s busy, reasonably well put together and quite exciting without being overly jingoistic.