Directed by Richard Thorpe.
1943. Not Rated, 97 minutes.
Cast:
Margaret Sullivan
Ann Sothern
Joan Blondell
Fely Franquelli
Fay Bainter
Marsha Hunt
Frances Gifford
Diana Lewis
During WWII nine young female volunteers, a mixture of Americans, English and a young Filipina (Manila born actress Fely Franquelli), arrive from the port town of Mariveles at a war torn jungle hospital unit on the small Philippine peninsula of Bataan looking to do their bit. Desperately shorthanded two army nurses, Captain Marsh (Fay Bainter) and Lt. “Smitty” Smith (Margaret Sullavan) along with four other female volunteers including the pragmatic Flo Norris (Marsha Hunt-a victim of the blacklist but still with us at 101!) try to ease their way and help them face the reality of their situation. A bit starry eyed-flighty southern belle Nydia wonders when the first mixer will be at the canteen. They are quickly disabused of their zeal when within a few hours of their arrival the hospital is strafed by Japanese aerial fire and one of their number goes missing.
As the days then weeks go by and the flood of wounded never lets up, the switchboard delivers ever more dire news and the enemy moves relentlessly closer to cutting off all access to help or ultimately escape the women work, argue, joke, despair and band together as they struggle to keep going and not let their hope be extinguished.
With its almost totally female cast, there are a few short appearances by men-including a very young just starting out Robert Mitchum who is in and out of the picture in about a minute, the focus is totally on both the camaraderie and competition of these women as they attempt to coexist in their tiny underground bunker.
Fortunately, the picture is loaded with actresses who are equal to the task of making their characters both vivid and relatable. Each actress gets some type of spotlight moment and all are terrific, but a few stand out.
The great but tormented Margaret Sullivan in her second to last feature as the outwardly tough Smitty, a woman who is hiding many secrets provides the film with a strong center. She understands how untenable the situation is and that it will only worsen but her job is to lead these women, so she adopts a rigid by the book attitude risking the ire of the others but at the same time keeping their fighting spirit alive.
It’s not all doom and gloom with the aforementioned somewhat dizzy and naïve Nydia (Diana Lewis-a delightful actress who retired directly after this film to be a full time wife to actor William Powell) and Joan Blondell as Grace a former burlesque queen providing flashes of humor (during an air raid Grace nervously says "I feel like a bubble dancer with a slow leak.")
While the primary underground bunker setting belies its stage origins, the picture is based on the play “Proof Through the Night”, and actual field hospitals are no doubt rougher than the one shown here the film still doesn't scrimp and try to make this seem glamorous in any way. When one of the girls gripes about the food the hospital cook Sadie (Connie Gilchrist) shoots back “Horse meat, mule meat, monkey meat. That’s quite a variety.” Which turns out to be true when they eventually have to subsist only on rice. These women are going through hell and the ending leaves little doubt that their struggles are far from over but that their courage helped win the war.
A fantastic opportunity to see an amazing group of actresses, perhaps not the most famous but some of the best working during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
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