IMDb RATING
6.7/10
2.3K
YOUR RATING
December, 1941. With no hope of relief or re-supply, a small band of United States Marines tries to keep the Japanese Navy from capturing their island base.December, 1941. With no hope of relief or re-supply, a small band of United States Marines tries to keep the Japanese Navy from capturing their island base.December, 1941. With no hope of relief or re-supply, a small band of United States Marines tries to keep the Japanese Navy from capturing their island base.
- Nominated for 4 Oscars
- 2 wins & 6 nominations total
Joyce Arleen
- Cynthia Caton
- (uncredited)
Hugh Beaumont
- Captain
- (uncredited)
Barbara Britton
- Sally Cameron
- (uncredited)
Hillary Brooke
- Girl at the Inn
- (uncredited)
James Brown
- Wounded Marine First Lieutenant
- (uncredited)
Don Castle
- Pvt. Cunkle
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaParamount began work on this movie before the real-life battle for Wake Island was over.
- GoofsDuring the aerial battle at around 38 minutes one of the island defenders is shown shooting down a biplane. Biplanes would have been phased out as tactical weapons long before the war began.
- Quotes
Pvt. Aloysius K. 'Smacksie' Randall: Boys, the honeymoon's over. From now on you're marines.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Paramount Victory Short No. T2-3: The Price of Victory (1942)
- SoundtracksMarine Hymn
(uncredited)
Music by Jacques Offenbach ("Gendarme's Duet") 1867
Heard under opening credirs
Featured review
The battle for Wake Island concluded just before Christmas of 1941 and news from the place was pretty sketchy. It would not be known until after the war ended exactly what happened on the place.
In many ways it was worse than what's shown here. With no help coming at all from the mainland USA or from Pearl Harbor which was licking its own wounds, there was an unconditional surrender declared. The construction workers who were building a base on the island when war broke out were all summarily executed as spies. The few Marines who did survive, survived in horrible captivity, probably made worse by the fact that America never tried to take the island back. When they had the overwhelming naval superiority, the Japanese were starved out, but so were the prisoners they had.
So with an incomplete story at best, the writers at Paramount had free reign to do an Alamo like story and proceeded to do just that. Brian Donlevy is a stalwart Marine Colonel who clashes repeatedly with Albert Dekker the head of the construction workers. Comic relief is provided by Robert Preston and William Bendix as a pair of tough marines who joke about Bendix's impending discharge which occurs right on the day of Pearl Harbor.
Bendix was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and while he's pretty funny in the part, when you consider he did a highly effective dramatic role in The Glass Key that same year, I'm wondering if the Academy put him up for the wrong film. He lost that year to Van Heflin for Johnny Eager.
Wake Island is a dated story, dated but entertaining. Maybe someone will do a film of the real story there, the horrible captivity of our prisoners, just like what they endured in the Phillipines.
In many ways it was worse than what's shown here. With no help coming at all from the mainland USA or from Pearl Harbor which was licking its own wounds, there was an unconditional surrender declared. The construction workers who were building a base on the island when war broke out were all summarily executed as spies. The few Marines who did survive, survived in horrible captivity, probably made worse by the fact that America never tried to take the island back. When they had the overwhelming naval superiority, the Japanese were starved out, but so were the prisoners they had.
So with an incomplete story at best, the writers at Paramount had free reign to do an Alamo like story and proceeded to do just that. Brian Donlevy is a stalwart Marine Colonel who clashes repeatedly with Albert Dekker the head of the construction workers. Comic relief is provided by Robert Preston and William Bendix as a pair of tough marines who joke about Bendix's impending discharge which occurs right on the day of Pearl Harbor.
Bendix was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and while he's pretty funny in the part, when you consider he did a highly effective dramatic role in The Glass Key that same year, I'm wondering if the Academy put him up for the wrong film. He lost that year to Van Heflin for Johnny Eager.
Wake Island is a dated story, dated but entertaining. Maybe someone will do a film of the real story there, the horrible captivity of our prisoners, just like what they endured in the Phillipines.
- bkoganbing
- May 7, 2007
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Volveremos a la isla Wake
- Filming locations
- Salt Lake City, Utah, USA(air scenes of Japanese attack planes)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $826,061 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 28 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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