Prologue: "When Japan struck, our desperate need was time--time to Marshall our new armies. Ninety-six priceless days were bought for us--with their lives--by the defenders of Bataan, the Philippine army which formed the bulk of MacArthur's infantry fighting shoulder to shoulder with Americans. To those immortal dead, who heroically stayed stayed the wave of barbaric conquest, this picture is reverently dedicated."
This is one of few contemporary World War II films to feature an American soldier who was an African-American, played by Kenneth Spencer. As such, the movie was not shown in parts of the American South. The book "The Films of World War II" notes that producer Dore Schary said that letters of complaint were received by the studio.
The film was criticized for being too studio-bound.
The NAACP applauded the film and gave MGM two awards for presenting an African-American in an intelligent and sympathetic manner. Producer Dore Schary deliberately did not tell writer Robert Hardy Andrews he was planning to cast an African-American as one of the soldiers, in order to avoid any racial speeches in the script.
This is one of a handful of feature films that have featured the story of the World War II Battle of Bataan. They include So Proudly We Hail! (1943); They Were Expendable (1945); Back to Bataan (1945) and Cry 'Havoc' (1943). The middle two films starred John Wayne.