Tell It to the Marines

I found this film enjoyable for many reasons. One, I'm finding that silent films were much, much more than Charlie Chaplin and the Keystone Kops, that dramas and low-key comedy were much better than I had thought. Growing up in Culver City, I am always fascinated with location shooting as well, seeing my home town and surrounding cities decades before I was born in the background gives me a kick. In this film, however, there's the added bonus of MCRD San Diego in all it's glory, 48 years before I myself attended boot camp and became a U.S. Marine there. I knew the camp was old, but to see it then when it had to be fairly new was great. I do hope they release this film on DVD, and ten stars to the people at TCM for continuing to share these wonderful rarities without chopping them to pieces. Semper Fi

A tough-as-shoe-leather sergeant patiently molds a rambunctious, rowdy youth into a sturdy Marine.

Available again after decades of obscurity, TELL IT TO THE MARINES is a wonderful, rousing paean to America's famous fighting force. Produced with the full cooperation of the Corps, it surges with heartfelt emotion & genuine excitement. It is the kind of film which should be shown to skeptics who doubt the power of silent cinema to satisfy a modern audience.

Lon Chaney is beyond praise as the hard-boiled Sergeant O'Hara, who loves the Corps and all that is stands for, but still has a tender heart and a good soul hidden beneath his rough exterior. This was Chaney's favorite role and he plays it without any of the extravagant make-up for which he was so famous. A superb character actor, Chaney became the parts he played. Completely believable, he fascinates the viewer into forgetting that this is an actor they are watching. His early death robbed him from rightfully enjoying the accolades & acclaim which other actors, like Chaplin, reaped in old age.

TELL IT TO THE MARINES provided the celebrity-making role for young William Haines and in it he practically revels in the silly billy antics that would dominate the rest of his movie career. In 1930, only 4 years after the release of this film, Chaney would be dead at the age of 47 and Haines would be the industry's top box office male. Things move fast in Hollywood.

Eleanor Boardman is perfect as the crisp Navy nurse who harbors tender feelings for both men. Carmel Myers is the exotic, albeit flea ridden, native girl who tempts Haines. Warner Oland has a small, flashy role as a despicable Chinese bandit. Movie mavens will recognize Willie Fung unbilled as a servant translating for Oland.

And what was the Marines' reaction to this film? They loved it, and especially Chaney's performance in it and he became the first actor to be awarded an honorary membership in the Corps.

The film's shipboard sequences were filmed on the mighty USS California, later to be sunk in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Where was Lon Chaney when they needed him?

TELL IT TO THE MARINES has been restored to pristine condition & given a rousing new score by Robert Israel.

This is one of Lon Chaney's finest performances. It also shows that MGM Production chief, Irving Thalberg, was not afraid to cast Chaney in a "no-makeup-role." Chaney gives a tough, yet endearing performance as the tough-but-loveable Marine sergeant.

It was MGM's second highest grossing picture (next to Garbo's "Flesh & the Devil"), earning over $6.1 million. But the Marines gave Chaney his highest praise for his role: he became the FIRST actor to be made an honorary member of the US Marine Corps.

In the only film that Lon Chaney ever made without makeup of any sort, he and William Haines laid the ground work for many a service comedy in the sound era. Had this been done at Warner Brothers a few years later, the parts that Chaney and Haines have would have been played by Pat O'Brien and James Cagney.

Tell It To The Marines finds William Haines as a fresh young recruit enlisting in the Marines on almost a whim in San Diego. Once they've got his signature on the dotted line, Haines comes under the tender charge of sergeant Lon Chaney. The two go through training, sea duty, and rescuing some missionaries while posted in Shanghai.

They've also interest in the same girl, Navy nurse Eleanor Boardman and if you've seen any of the Cagney-O'Brien films you know who she's going to wind up with. Haines also dallies a bit with South Sea native girl Carmel Myers and his attentions start a small war on that said island.

A few years away from being cast as Chinese detective Charlie Chan, Warner Oland plays a lean and mean Chinese bandit chief, threatening the lives of all and virtue of the females at a Chinese mission. Americans were very sensitive on that subject, giving money at collection time at church services for Chinese missions. Back then it seemed like every church in America was sponsoring a missionary in China.

Though it's not a genre that the silent screen was especially known for, Tell It To The Marines is a rollicking good service comedy and a nice change of pace for the Man of a Thousand Faces to be seen as his own true self.

Lon Chaney is one of my top 3 actors ever, so naturally I watched this movie because of him. It's amazing how he managed to make gruff characters so likeable-- even under layers of makeup as the Hunchback of Notre Dame or the Phantom of the Opera. Here he's not buried under a few layers of makeup, but his character is no less memorable. William Haynes is quite good in his role as the goofy recruit that Chaney swears to make into a Marine. The movie can be quite funny, quite touching and often exciting, as well. Highly recommended.