So Proudly We Hail (1943)

So Proudly We Hail
Directed by Mark Sandrich
Written by Allan Scott
1943/USA
Paramount Pictures
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Kansas: I never get killed.[/box]

Uneven but ultimately powerful movie about the loves, work, and sacrifices of nurses near the front lines in the last days of Bataan and Corregidor.

As the movie begins, we see a group of nurses being unloaded from a plane in Australia. Looking tired and broken, they are one of the last groups of people to be evacuated by the military from Corregidor.  Among their number, Lt. Janet ‘Davy’ Davidson (Claudette Colbert) is carried out on a stretcher.  The group heads home by ship.  The rest of the nurses are soon fixed up with some food and rest but Davy remains essentially catatonic. The navy doctor asks the nurses to tell their story so he can get some insight into how to treat her.  Segue into flashback with voice over narration largely from Lt. Joan O’Doul (Paulette Godard).

The nurses were scheduled to go to Pearl Harbor by ship but the Japanese attacked midway en route so they got shipped to Bataan instead.  Davy was the senior officer of her group.  Nurse Olivia D’Arcy (Veronica Lake) is a sullen problem child whom no one likes. Davy finally gets her to open up and tell her story.  It turns out she witnessed her fiancé’s death at Pearl Harbor and now is going to the Philippines specifically to “kill Japs”.  She becomes much more friendly after her secret is out.

The nurses get down to long shifts of work at Bataan.  At first this is done at a hospital, but later they work right in the jungle or in makeshift quarters.  They struggle with short rations and dwindling medical supplies.  Then they are bombed and the U.S. is pushed off Bataan onto Corregidor.  The only reason the nurses manage to escape is due to the heroic act of one of them.

On Corregidor, the nurses are slightly safer due to the massive tunnels that the military previously constructed on the island base but the supply problem and overcrowding of the wards continues.  Finally they learn that no relief is coming and that MacArthur has left for Australia.  Our nurses are in the first, and almost the last, group to get evacuated amid horrific shelling.

The romances of Davy with a medical technician (George Reeves) and Joan with an enlisted marine (Sonny Tufts) are important running sub-plots.

Those that don’t like rather corny patriotic speeches should know going in that there are several of them, mostly coming in a religious context from the Chaplin.  The romances are rather routine stuff, though heightened by the dangerous situation.  The scenes showing the camaraderie and tireless work of the nurses and the combat scenes are really gripping, however. It’s like a window into another world and a beautiful tribute to some courageous women who face terrifying conditions, unarmed and with tremendous responsibility for the lives of other, largely helpless, people.  The acting is excellent across the board. Veronica Lake gives, by far, the standout performance of her career in this film.  Recommended.

So Proudly We Hail was nominated for Oscars in the following categories:  Best Supporting Actress (Goddard); Best Writing, Original Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Charles Lang); and Best Effects, Special Effects.

Trailer