<\/span><\/h2>\nDespite Wayne being cast second in the bill to Robert Montgomery, this is the first real classic WWII film of his career.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t hurt of course that it was directed by John Ford and the film, to my mind, is a small yet underrated masterpiece in the director\u2019s body of work.<\/p>\n
The film was released just after the end of the war by MGM in early 1946 and tells the story, based on fact, of two navy Lieutenants, John Brickley, played by Montgomery, and Rusty Ryan (Wayne) who are instrumental in using PT boats to attack the Japanese navy in defence of the Philippines.<\/p>\n
The film itself, like Wayne\u2019s performance, is a subdued and somewhat melancholy affair, bearing in mind, as the screenwriter Lem Dobbs points out in a documentary on Ford, that the title suggests most of the characters are dead by the time their story is told.<\/p>\n
Montgomery, unlike Wayne, had actually served during the war in the navy and commanded a PT boat in the Pacific.<\/p>\n
On top of that Ford had also seen action with his photographic unit at Midway, in which he was mildly wounded by some shrapnel, and had also witnessed the D-Day landings.<\/p>\n
Ford apparently rode Wayne mercilessly for not having voluntarily enlisted himself, moving Montgomery to intervene on Wayne\u2019s behalf and upbraiding Ford accordingly, which I think goes some way to explaining Wayne\u2019s low-key performance in the film.<\/p>\n
Ford isn\u2019t generally known for his action sequences, being more interested in character and mood.<\/p>\n
The battle between the PT boats and the Japanese fleet, however, is genuinely exciting and extremely authentic, no doubt helped by Ford and Montgomery having witnessed the real thing during the war itself.<\/p>\n
Wayne gets to survive this one, both he and Montgomery having to leave their men behind to help organise other PT boat missions on behalf of the navy.<\/p>\n
Inevitably, this being a WWII movie, the film ends with a rendition of \u201cGlory glory hallelujah\u201d, but the triumphalism is weighed down by the fact that the men they leave behind will most probably not make it back to their families in America.<\/p>\n
The script was written by Frank Wead, or \u2018Spig\u2019 as he was known, a real-life character that Wayne went on to portray in Ford\u2019s \u201cThe Wings of Eagles\u201d, released in 1957.<\/p>\n
And the number one spot in Top Ten John War Movies goes too\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n