Themes: Women During Wartime, Behind Enemy Lines, Military Life
Main Cast: Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake, George Reeves, Barbara Britton
Release Year: 1943
Country: US
Run Time: 126 minutes
Plot
Paramount's So Proudly We Hail, like MGM's Cry Havoc, is a tribute to the Red Cross nurses trapped behind enemy lines in the early days of the Pacific war. Claudette Colbert is the self-sacrificing head nurse, struggling to minister to the wounded and to keep her staff (including Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake and Barbara Britton, all of them giving better than usual performances) from buckling under the pressure. Taking into consideration the regular fans of the film's female cast, the producers thoughtfully include several scenes in which the ladies pursue their romantic lives. The story culminates with the fall of Bataan, ending on a resigned but optimistic note; this finale was designed to lift the spirits of the audience, which in 1943 wasn't so certain as Hollywood of final victory. So Proudly We Hail was not only effective propaganda (though not as effective as Cry Havoc), but it also enabled Paramount to introduce its new crop of male hunks--including the estimable Sonny Tufts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
So Proudly We Hail! is a moving, stirring, and powerful World War II film, and unusual (although not unique) in the emphasis it places on the role of women during the war. Because of that focus -- and because of the stars cast in the leading female roles -- Hail features a good deal more romance than most war films, but it does not stint on the action. Indeed, the battle sequences are among the finest put on the screen during the time, with special effects work that is exemplary. More importantly, Hail doesn't glamorize the war; the fighting is painful and the consequences of the war are in plain sight. Occasionally, Hailfalls prey to a little flag waving where some restraint would have produced better drama, and there are occasional slurs from the period (though not as many as in other war films of the period), and So Proudly We Hail! could stand to lose a few minutes here and there. But these flaws in its writing and pacing are very slight; indeed, director Mark Sandrich turns in some of his very finest work here. He draws an exceptional performance from Paulette Goddard, plays to the very considerable strengths of the always winning Claudette Colbert, produces fine work from Veronica Lake, and gives George Reeves a chance to really shine. Even Sonny Tufts comes across as an actor rather than a pretty boy. Throw in some magnificent Charles B. Lang lensing, and the result is a top-drawer picture that packs plenty of punch. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
The film follows a group of military nurses sent to the Philippines during the early days of World War II. The movie was based on a book written by nurse Juanita Hipps[1] a WWII nurse—one of the "Angels of Bataan"--who served in Bataan and Corregidor during the time when McArthur withdrew to Australia which ultimately led to the surrender of US and Philippine troops to Japan. Those prisoners of war were subjected to the infamous Bataan Death March. The movie was based on LTC Hipps' true story "I Served On Bataan."
The story covers many day to day events, and contrasts the brutality of war against the sometimes futile efforts of the nurses to provide medical aid and comfort. There are several striking moments in the movie, including a shocking "self-sacrifice" by a female character to save her fellow nurses. Each of the nurses has a past or present love story with a soldier, with the longest term and most interesting romance the one between the characters played by Colbert and Reeves. The flashback narration gives a sense of historical import and resonance. The sequence where the nurses and injured soldiers are stranded in Malinta Tunnel pinned down by aircraft fire, is one of the more claustrophobic scenes in wartime cinema.
Moviegoers of the time found great timeliness in the movie, since MacArthur and the battles for Bataan, and Corregidor were familiar to every American. Although the love-story plot line is the primary thrust of the film, the difficulties and emotional toll of war are strongly shown.
