Films about famous battles are a dime a dozen. For every good one, there are plenty of other ones that are generic depictions of valor while we watch waves of soldiers fighting their way through enemy lines towards the inevitable victory. What these films all have, good or bad, is a victory against odds that is portrayed in such a way as to raise our spirits and boost morale, especially those war films released in the late 1930s and the early 40s.
Wake Island is not like that. This was a battle that ended in defeat with the Japanese troops overwhelming our men while they defended the strategic island to the southwest of Hawaii. This was a fairly recent defeat during the war of the Pacific, and this film was meant to be a tribute to those men who died bravely defending an island against odds that they couldn’t surmount. This story doesn’t have a happy ending, and we will spend nearly ninety minutes getting to know characters that will be killed in the final minutes. In theory, this defeat should lower our spirits, but the opposite happens instead.
A big part of that is because, while the ending is tragic, the filmmakers compensate for it by making the characters involved larger-than-life. We are told in the opening credits that while the events are true, the characters names are fictional. Even knowing that, we like these characters enough that they might as well have been real people to us. It’s played for comedy, but it also humanizes these people and makes it easier for us to associate with them.
Wake Island has a long and continued history in the military. The United States claimed it in 1899 but didn’t develop it for another 35 years when Pan Am constructed an airfield and hotel there, making it a stopover for trans-Pacific flying boat routes. It became an important post during the rising tensions in the Pacific during the earlier days of World War II. Then Japan seized the island from the US and held on to it until the war was over. It was just over two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor before the Battle of Wake Island took place, resulting in surrender by American troops and Japanese occupation for the next several years.
It is during this period just before the attack on Pearl Harbor that the film takes place. It starts on Oahu where U.S. Marine Corps Major Geoffrey Caton (Brian Donlevy) is departing the naval base at Pearl Harbor to take command on Wake Island. On board the Pan Am Clipper, he clashes with civilian contractor Shad McClosky (Albert Dekker), who has been hired by the military to build large trenches and living quarters on the island. This causes some tension between him and the officers over protocols and air raid drills that slow down his progress. He also identifies two privates, Randall and Doyle (William Bendix and Robert Preston) as troublemakers and puts them to work digging slit trenches by hand.
On December 7, 1941, Randall’s enlistment is up, and he prepares to leave Wake Island. But the following day, news arrives of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and he, not knowing what to do, goes to a bomb shelter with the civilians as the enemy planes approach the island. Later, after this attack ends, he is told he is no longer a civilian and to get back in uniform. In the weeks afterwards, more enemy ships arrive, and, through some ingenuity, they repel the ships, sinking several of them. But this victory is only temporary, and more ships and planes arrive, eventually overcoming the Americans, leading to the Japanese occupation for the duration of the war.
This is a part of history we don’t hear enough about. It’s not an ignored part of the war, but it doesn’t get the recognition as such well-known battles as Normandy or Hamburger Hill do. Aside from the fictional names of the characters and what Bosley Crowther of the New York Times called “a very slight contrivance of plot”, it is practically a historical record of how the marine detachment at Wake Island fought and died as heroes.
On top of this accuracy to events, there is a thrilling use of aerial photography utilized to heighten the tension during the Japanese air raids. For a film in the 1940s, this is a very well-produced depiction of those attacks, holding up all these years later despite some of the effects being dated. The air combat sequences are breathtaking and impressive, but so too are the land and sea battles. The production is first-rate, and we feel the power of the giant guns as they fire against the enemy battleships and submarines. When the final invasion begins, it is brutal and bloody, and we can see that it is virtually hopeless. That feeling permeates the final minutes of the film as our Marines fall to the waves of Japanese soldiers. It’s tough to watch, especially knowing the outcome ahead of time. Had we not spent so much time getting to know these characters, we would not have the emotional investment when they are killed in the finale.
This film, released in the fall of 1942, was less than a year after the events depicted. To some, that could seem like it was too soon after the tragic events on screen. The families of the fallen might have felt so. But it was also a loving tribute to these brave men who sacrificed their lives in a vain attempt to hold off the enemies of the free world. It honors these men while also making sure we saw them for what they were: real humans with faults, quirks, and everything else. This was a reminder of these brave men even as the war raged on in the world. It still is, though that dark time in human history is many years in the past. Now it stands as a memorial of the fallen, men who fought bravely to the end and died for our country and our freedom.
Academy Award Nominations:
Outstanding Production: Joseph Sistrom
Best Director: John Farrow
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: William Bendix
Best Original Screenplay: W.R. Burnett and Frank Butler
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Release Date: September 1, 1942
Running Time: 88 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Brian Donlevy, Macdonald Carey, Robert Preston, Albert Dekker, William Bendix, and Walter Abel
Directed by: John Farrow
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