Manila Calling

"Manila Calling" is a WWII propaganda film made to bolster the war effort. Being made in 1942, it came out about the same time that the US was in some of its darkest days of the war...when victory seemed out of reach. Just after the fall of the Philippines came this picture...to encourage everyone that just because these islands fell does not mean that the war is over or even close to it.

The story begins just after the fall of the islands. A group of American and Filipino folks have gathered together to form a band of guerillas. Their goal is to resist and fight the Japanese military occupation to the end. The film is about their struggle and eventual decision to create a clandestine radio station to encourage the locals to fight.

This is a decent propaganda film because although this ragtag group of folks seem to have almost super-human fighting abilities, they are NOT impossible to stop. One by one they are killed and the message is not that resistance is without costs or that impossible odds are actually very possible....something I appreciated. Worth seeing if a bit jingoistic at times.

The storyline is rather familiar. It reminded me of a western. It was a fairly average flag waver with little to distinguish it.

How come that Carole Landis never sweats and was a pristine white blouse which does not get dirty. Rather strange.

The war in my town of Cabanatuan in the center of Luzon island in the Philippines just ended although there were still Japanese die-hards hiding in the foothills around our town, taking pot shots at GIs, civilians etc. I remember seeing this movie, "Manila Calling," in this kind of postwar atmosphere. I must have been in first grade, knowing no English except "Hello Joe," "Victory Joe," "Got chewing gum, Joe?" but I remember understanding and being able to follow the story line or plot of the movie. I loved this movie as I loved all the other American war movies that I saw as a little boy, just delivered from the misery of war and the brutality of the Japanese conquerors. The GIs and General MacArthur were our heroes. After a span of more than five decades I can remember vividly Lloyd Nolan's character trying to outwit the Japs and get an old, broken down two-seat civilian airplane started so he can escape. It's kind of hazy, being not able to understand the dialogue, but I do remember that before fleeing from the Japanese, Nolan and the townspeople were desperate in their attempt to find fresh water as the Japanese either poisoned or cut off the town's water supply. I wish I can see this movie again, either on TV or to purchase or rent a VHS version of it.

Manilla calling chronicles the activities of a group of Americans, cut off and trapped in Luzon by the Japanese advance. They elected to hide in the mountains rather than surrender and go to Japanese prison camps. Lloyd Nolan plays a role as a tough guy with a soft heart. It has little hype and no revisionist history, an accurate account of how it was.

During the late 60's & early 70's N.Y. WWOR CHANNEL 9 would run the same movie every day for a week (this was a long time before VCR's). I would watch it every chance I had, unfortunately it's not currently available in any format. This movie is where Steven Spielberg came up with the ever so "original" sniper praying to hit his mark. As I remember the soldiers were stationed in a barbedwire fenced compound which reminds me of the T.V. series Daktari. The "japs" would snipe at the Americans, and in turn the Scottish sniper would slip out and hunt the "japs". Other films of this quality; BATAAN, GUNG HO! (1943)