Almas inconquistables

"Prisoner of Japan" was a hard film to sit through. One could see that it was made by a Poverty Row studio, Atlantis Pictures. But even it was among the lesser of the B studios of the day. Of its half dozen movies in 1942 and 1943, the studio had three with some actors of name. But the screenplays for all of these films are just horrible. I have never seen a high school or college play that had scripts as poor as these.

Besides an awful script, this film has a cast in which the few characters seemed to try to under-perform each other. None were much known in 1942. Only Gertrude Michael, as Toni Chase, seemed to have ever had an acting class. Her role was fair. But Alan Baxter as David Bowman, Ernst Deutsch as Matsuru and Tom Seidel as Ensign Bailey were almost laughably bad. The first two were stiff, wooden and hesitant throughout, and Seidel was like a kindergarten kid in a Navy uniform.

The idea for the plot wasn't a bad one. But the screenplay, sets and all technical aspects of the film are poor quality. Thankfully, it was over in 64 minutes. One had to watch to see the end with the subject and title the film has. But, there's absolutely nothing here at all even for war film addicts.

Now, brace yourself, reader, for here's an example of the dynamite dialog in this film. David Bowman, "I'm afraid." Toni Chase, "David, don't be afraid."