The heroic but doomed defense of Wake Island against the Japanese in the opening days of WWII provided the basis for this slightly fictionalized, immensely popular flag-waver that garnered several Academy Award nominations. A perfect example of Hollywood's contribution to the war effort,
the film demonstrated that even in defeat there was victory, and provided needed inspiration for a nation reeling from loss after loss at the hands of the Japanese. Hunkered down in foxholes and machine gun nests, the courageous Marine defenders of the island, under the command of the determined
Maj. Caton (Brian Donlevy), refuse to bend to the assault of countless Japanese troops. For two weeks they hold on, but with no help coming and ammunition running low, they are doomed and know it. Still, they refuse to give up, and in the end, Maj. Caton, Joe Doyle (Robert Preston), Lt. Cameron
(Macdonald Carey), Smacksie Randall (William Bendix), and the other brave Marines prove their mettle.
All the performers are good, particularly Donlevy, brilliantly evoking calm in the face of overwhelming odds, and Bendix. The film was widely shown to soldiers at training camps all over the country, and reportedly never failed to rouse cheers. Shot on location on the shores of the Salton Sea in
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