Objective, Burma! is a 1945 movie which depicts American paratroopers fighting extensively in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. The picture, which made by Warner Brothers, was directed by Raoul Walsh and filmed entirely in California.
Plot
A group of paratroopers led by Captain Nelson (Errol Flynn) are dropped into Burma to locate and destroy a Japanese radar station that is detecting Allied aircraft flying into China. They are assigned Gurkha guides, a Chinese Army Captain and an older war correspondent (Henry Hull) whose character is used as explain various procedures to the audience.
The 36 man mission succeeds in textbook fashion but Japanese troops arrive when the Allies reach their rendezvous at an old air-strip. Captain Nelson makes the hard decision to call off the rescue planes. He and his men must now fight their way back to safety through enemy-occupied jungle.
Drawing away Japanese forces, Nelson's paratroopers make their way to various locations until discovering they have decoyed the Japanese away from the site of the British Empire's 1944 aerial invasion of Burma.
Production notes
Among the attractions of the movie is that it was filmed with authentic WWII American military material, aircraft and gliders. These give the movie a very credible feel, despite most exteriors being shot at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden.
The film contains a large amount of authentic footage taken by U.S. Army Signal Corps cameramen in the China Burma India theatre.[1]
Ranald MacDougall had been a creator and co-writer of the CBS radio series The Man Behind the Gun.[2] He had been contracted to Warner Brothers, with this his second film after uncredited work on Pride of the Marines.
Filming began on 1 May 1944 that was set for sixty days but was extended for 40 more days to due bad weather and constant script changes.[3] Producer Jerry Wald admitted that the screenplay was based on Northwest Passage.[4] Like that film Objective Burma features a group of highly trained men going on a dangerous mission behind enemy lines that they pull off successfully. Due to circumstances beyond their control their original escape route is blocked by the enemy and the patrol must make its way back to their lines. The group splits into two with one half killed by the enemy.
Notoriety
The film was withdrawn from release in the United Kingdom after protests stemming from the Americanization of what had been a British, Indian and Commonwealth conflict. The film prompted an editorial in The Times: "It is essential both for the enemy and the allies to understand how it came about that the war was won . . . nations should know and appreciate the efforts other countries than their own made to the common cause". Winston Churchill was so infuriated that the movie was not shown in the UK until 1952, then accompanied by an apology. There were also objections to Errol Flynn playing the hero as despite being Australian he had stayed in Hollywood during the war, unlike actors like David Niven or James Stewart.[5][6]
In the British film Wonderful Life Cliff Richard and The Shadows parody the film as Captain Richard tells the Shadows (all wearing American fatigues) "OK men, we take Burma by... 3:30".
Nominations
The movie was nominated for three Academy Awards in 1945:
Other notable cast
References
- ^ http://cbi-theater-1.home.comcast.net/~cbi-theater-1/roundup/roundup041245.html
- ^ pp.430-431 Dunning, John ''On the Air: The Enclylopedia of Old Time Radio 1998 Oxford University Press
- ^ <http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=4743
- ^ ibid
- ^ Hobbes, Nicholas (2003). Essential Militaria. Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1843542292.
- ^ 'Great Escape' makers turned facts into fiction The Times March 25, 2009
External links
