Here's another classic
Written: Jun 14 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Well deserved, but long forgotten, recognition for our battle nurses
Cons: Occasionally recognizable propaganda, but no problem
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| isinga's Full Review: So Proudly We Hail |
Have you ever heard of Mark Sandrich? How about Sonny Tufts? That's what I thought. Have you heard of June Havoc, or Paulette Goddard or, perhaps, even Claudette Colbert? Maybe you've heard of George Reeves? You know, the one who played the black-and-white Superman?
Well, all of these people were brought together in 1943 by a jewel of a war movie entitled "So Proudly We Hail." I won't hold it against you if you have never heard of it, let alone ever seen it. There are so many exquisitely crafted and enacted films in our history that are now unseen and forgotten -- it's sad.
The courageous women who went to war along with our young men are finally being recognized. There is the Nurse's monument in Washington, commemorating the nurses who literally condemned themselves to lifetimes of nightmares and PTSD problems. Oh, yeah, that stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and is very well known to our combat veterans from the Viet Nam war.
Well, Hollywood tried in its own inimitable way to offer recognition to some of those nurses during WWII. Of course they were restricted by the Hayes office in how fully they could portray the problems these women faced from the Japanese Imperial Army. This film is just a hint.
Paulette Goddard, June Havoc, and Claudette Colbert (along with some other very fine actresses who you may recognize if you see them) are Nurses in the Phillipines at the outbreak of war. The film follows them on their retreat from Luzon to Corregidor, and their eventual capture by the Japanese.
What makes the film so powerfully telling is the fact that Director Sandrich tells the tale by following the individual and personal stories of several of the nurses, and doing it in a particularly moving way.
Claudette Colbert is married to an Army officer (George Reeves) who remains on Luzon, and we follow her anguish as she tries to keep in touch while she is forced to retreat and he is left to fight a delaying action.
Paulette Goddard is unattached until she meets a gawky and clumsy Marine (Sonny Tufts) whose klutziness captures her heart. Every time he tries something, she warns him not to... mess it up in whatever way is most likely, and he always replies, "I never... mess it up that way," and then proceeds to do exactly that. When fixing an electric cord on Corregidor, she warns him, "Don't get a shock," and he replies, "I never get a shock." And then gets a shock. This repartee won me over and, when he was called to join the delaying action, Goddard warns him "Be careful and don't get yourself killed," to which he naturally replies, "I never get myself...." I guarantee it will choke you up.
So Proudly We Hail stands out as the only major movie that focused entirely on the role, the problems, the dangers, and the courage of our Nurses in the Pacific. It's pretty subdued in comparison with Platoon, or Saving Private Ryan, or The Thin Red Line, but it carries every bit the same impact. Another memorable scene is where Frances Rafferty, a nurse who witnessed what the Japanese did in Nanking, sacrifices herself to spare her sister-nurses. And, there is so much more....
This is one of my favorite movies, and I strongly urge you to get it and see for yourself why. I warn you, it will leave you with an uncommon mixture of feelings churning in your mind and heart. You will feel anger, and you will feel sadness, and you will feel very, very proud of these women who worked and died for our young men. That's all I have to say about this one.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
isinga
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Chad Reeser
Location: Lovelock, Nevada
Reviews written: 413
Trusted by: 160 members
About Me:
Korea/Vietnam Vet, 75,angry over contemporary political corruption and the idiot voters supporting it.
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