Released before the US had even been involved in the war for a year, this hard-hitting WWII action film drew its story from Richard Tregaskis's best-selling nonfiction book and superbly documents the first significant US counterattacks in the Pacific--the Marine invasion of the Solomon
Islands.
One group of Marines, a cross-section of Americans from all walks of life, is shown as they hit the beaches in August 1942. William Bendix plays a tough, dim-witted ex-cab driver with a heart of gold; Richard Conte a courageous officer; Preston Foster the company chaplain; Lionel Stander the
company clown; Lloyd Nolan the old pro sergeant who looks out for young recruits like Richard Jaeckel (in his film debut); and Anthony Quinn is the rugged Mexican-American hero who seeks revenge for the slaughter of his platoon. The film follows the recruits from camp, to their first engagement,
and through the hell that was Guadalcanal.
Not a pretty picture, GUADALCANAL DIARY captures in painful detail the day-to-day survival of the stout-hearted Marines, presenting their humor and the full force of their dedication in scene after scene. Powerfully effective as propaganda, the film was in keeping with Hollywood's early efforts to
depict a treacherous enemy, joining the ranks of such stellar WWII films as WAKE ISLAND and BATAAN, but unlike those films it depicted a major American victory. Lewis Seiler's direction is as quick and relentless as the chatter of a machine gun and all the cast members render believable and
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