A commendable effort considering that the film was shot when war was still going on. At that time, Yamashita was still being pursued by American forces and Filipino guerrillas as he retreated into the mountain fastness of the Cordilleras in Northern Luzon. But on the whole, the acting was a bit "hammy" especially that of John Wayne. William Manchester, the biographer of Gen. Douglas MacArthur who was a Pacific War veteran himself recounted that he had the pleasure of booing Wayne as he made an appearance during a showing of the latter's film "Sands of Iwo Jima." Indeed practically all of John Wayne's WWII movies were acted badly. He was better in Westerns especially in his late maturity as the one-eyed sheriff Rooster Coburn.
This is not to say there wasn't any good acting at all in the movie. Beulah Bondi who played the role of an elderly American teacher in a public school deserves kudos, for instance.
The battle scenes were poorly planned and executed. A notable lack of military hardware was also apparent. Most of the tanks and armored vehicles were, after all, still being used in the battles of Northern Luzon.
Anthony Quinn is cast as a Filipino soldier. Well, at the time when Hollywood needed an actor to portray an "exotic" foreigner, they chose those who were not known for their smashing good looks. With Quinn, we've seen him as an Eskimo (Savage Innocents), a Greek (Guns of Navarone, Zorba the Greek), etc. Unfortunately, as a Filipino myself I must say he looks nothing like a Filipino.
Few people know that the gallant defense of Bataan which upset the Japanese plans of going back to Pearl Harbor for a land occupation and then proceeding to Australia and later on to California was undertaken mostly by Filipino soldiers of the Philippine Army of the Philippine Commonwealth. There were only a handful of American soldiers (not more than 5,000 combat, the rest were support) compared to about 30,000 Filipino soldiers on both Bataan and Fortress Corregidor. Churchill knew this and he uttered an uncharacteristic paean to the Filipino soldier who, after all, was not Anglo-Saxon. After the easy conquest of Singapore by the Japanese while the "Battling Bastards of Bataan" were still slugging it out toe to toe with the enemy, Churchill was asked in Parliament why that happened. He replied :"Because the Filipino soldier is the bravest in the world." The Philippine Army was attached to the American forces upon agreement of the governments of the United States and the Philippines as soon as war broke out. The joined forces were formally called United States Armed Forces in the Far East which became the famous acronym USAFFE.
Upon Bataan's surrender by the American commanders (the Filipinos were against it), the first thing the Japanese Army officers did was to segregate the Filipino officers. They were decimated by beheading with the infamous katanas carried by Japanese officers. During the Death March, many Filipino soldiers escaped to fight on as guerrillas.
As in most enemy occupied countries in WWII, the largest and most organized resistance movement in the Philippines was the front led by communist partisans. It was known as HukBalaHap, the acronym of Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon (The People's Army Against the Japanese). They were so effective that the Japanese felt their presence in almost the entire country but most especially in Luzon where the movement had many sympathizers because of agrarian unrest. This was because, the US colonial government did not abolish the feudal landownership system operated by the Spaniards for 300 years. This was due to the fact that the Filipinos who collaborated with the conquering American Forces during the Filipino-American War (US government historians called it an insurrection) were big landowners. Some clashes occurred between US forces and "Huk" guerrillas during the liberation of the islands by MacArthur as the Americans sought to disarm some guerrilla units because they were seen as communists, and thus, enemies.
For many years during the American colonial occupation, Filipinos resented the loss of their independence and seethed at the betrayal and atrocities committed by American forces during the Philippine - American War (cf. James H. Blount, The American Occupation of the Philippines). Somehow, however, with the universal education policy implemented by the American backed civil government and with the liberation of the islands from the Japanese, true friendship between the two peoples of different races became a reality. The most beloved American Governors General were Howard Taft who went on to become US President and Francis Burton Harrison. Taft ended the repressive military government headed by Gen. Arthur MacArthur, instituted public health and universal free education while Harrison campaigned vigorously for the granting self-government to the Filipinos culminating in the establishment of a Philippine Commonwealth Government and leading to independence. Manila's two main historical avenues are named after the two great American officials.
Another film about the Pacific War in the Philippines is The Great Raid (2005) which is based on the true story of the rescue of American POWs from a Japanese prison camp in Nueva Ecija. The prisoners were going to be murdered by the Japanese and so a small team of US crack troops were sent to rescue them with the help of Filipino guerrillas and local farmers.
This is not to say there wasn't any good acting at all in the movie. Beulah Bondi who played the role of an elderly American teacher in a public school deserves kudos, for instance.
The battle scenes were poorly planned and executed. A notable lack of military hardware was also apparent. Most of the tanks and armored vehicles were, after all, still being used in the battles of Northern Luzon.
Anthony Quinn is cast as a Filipino soldier. Well, at the time when Hollywood needed an actor to portray an "exotic" foreigner, they chose those who were not known for their smashing good looks. With Quinn, we've seen him as an Eskimo (Savage Innocents), a Greek (Guns of Navarone, Zorba the Greek), etc. Unfortunately, as a Filipino myself I must say he looks nothing like a Filipino.
Few people know that the gallant defense of Bataan which upset the Japanese plans of going back to Pearl Harbor for a land occupation and then proceeding to Australia and later on to California was undertaken mostly by Filipino soldiers of the Philippine Army of the Philippine Commonwealth. There were only a handful of American soldiers (not more than 5,000 combat, the rest were support) compared to about 30,000 Filipino soldiers on both Bataan and Fortress Corregidor. Churchill knew this and he uttered an uncharacteristic paean to the Filipino soldier who, after all, was not Anglo-Saxon. After the easy conquest of Singapore by the Japanese while the "Battling Bastards of Bataan" were still slugging it out toe to toe with the enemy, Churchill was asked in Parliament why that happened. He replied :"Because the Filipino soldier is the bravest in the world." The Philippine Army was attached to the American forces upon agreement of the governments of the United States and the Philippines as soon as war broke out. The joined forces were formally called United States Armed Forces in the Far East which became the famous acronym USAFFE.
Upon Bataan's surrender by the American commanders (the Filipinos were against it), the first thing the Japanese Army officers did was to segregate the Filipino officers. They were decimated by beheading with the infamous katanas carried by Japanese officers. During the Death March, many Filipino soldiers escaped to fight on as guerrillas.
As in most enemy occupied countries in WWII, the largest and most organized resistance movement in the Philippines was the front led by communist partisans. It was known as HukBalaHap, the acronym of Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon (The People's Army Against the Japanese). They were so effective that the Japanese felt their presence in almost the entire country but most especially in Luzon where the movement had many sympathizers because of agrarian unrest. This was because, the US colonial government did not abolish the feudal landownership system operated by the Spaniards for 300 years. This was due to the fact that the Filipinos who collaborated with the conquering American Forces during the Filipino-American War (US government historians called it an insurrection) were big landowners. Some clashes occurred between US forces and "Huk" guerrillas during the liberation of the islands by MacArthur as the Americans sought to disarm some guerrilla units because they were seen as communists, and thus, enemies.
For many years during the American colonial occupation, Filipinos resented the loss of their independence and seethed at the betrayal and atrocities committed by American forces during the Philippine - American War (cf. James H. Blount, The American Occupation of the Philippines). Somehow, however, with the universal education policy implemented by the American backed civil government and with the liberation of the islands from the Japanese, true friendship between the two peoples of different races became a reality. The most beloved American Governors General were Howard Taft who went on to become US President and Francis Burton Harrison. Taft ended the repressive military government headed by Gen. Arthur MacArthur, instituted public health and universal free education while Harrison campaigned vigorously for the granting self-government to the Filipinos culminating in the establishment of a Philippine Commonwealth Government and leading to independence. Manila's two main historical avenues are named after the two great American officials.
Another film about the Pacific War in the Philippines is The Great Raid (2005) which is based on the true story of the rescue of American POWs from a Japanese prison camp in Nueva Ecija. The prisoners were going to be murdered by the Japanese and so a small team of US crack troops were sent to rescue them with the help of Filipino guerrillas and local farmers.