Watched this yesterday starring Randolph Scott, Robert Mitchum Noah Berry (Jim Rockford's dad) and Milburn Stone (Doc from Gunsmoke...playing a doctor!). This film purposes to be the 'true' story of the Makin Island raid of 1942, I'm feeling generous, it gets a D- for accuracy. On the other hand the acting and dialog is decent for what is in reality a propaganda film. The final act battle sequence, while wildly fanciful, is effective and entertaining. Popular at the time of its release, and said to be a solid recruiting tool for the Marines, it has to be seen as very dated by a modern audience.
The film was 1943, the arrest 1948. Hollywood has had a long history of protecting its 'moneymakers' from scandal's, except for certain things periodically like communism in the fifties. Sometimes they (actors) were simply too blatant or offended someone too important and were thrown to the wolves. In today's world like 'me too' there is more zero tolerance. Mitchum was never my favorite actor, but there are some of his roles that I always found endlessly watchable.
Normal for the wartime genre of films. Morale boosting, relatively bloodless (no dismemberment, little blood), cavalier almost cheerful spirit shared by the fighting men, stereotyped enemy. Sometimes more interesting for the equpment than anything else. That said, good for recruitment drives and to sell war bonds.
