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Guadalcanal Diary (film)

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Guadalcanal Diary
Theatrical release poster
Directed byLewis Seiler
Screenplay byLamar Trotti
Jerome Cady
Based onthe book
by Richard Tregaskis
Produced byBryan Foy
StarringPreston Foster
Lloyd Nolan
William Bendix
Richard Conte
Anthony Quinn
Richard Jaeckel
CinematographyCharles G. Clarke
Edited byFred Allen
Music byDavid Buttolph
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • November 5, 1943 (1943-11-05) (United States)[1]
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.7 million (US rentals)[2] or $3 million[3]

Guadalcanal Diary is a 1943 World War II war film directed by Lewis Seiler, featuring Preston Foster, Lloyd Nolan, William Bendix, Richard Conte, Anthony Quinn and the film debut of Richard Jaeckel. It is based on the book of the same name by Richard Tregaskis.

The film recounts the fight of the United States Marines in the Battle of Guadalcanal, which occurred only a year before the movie's release. While the film has notable battle scenes, its primary focus is on the characters and back stories of the Marines. The film adapted the story of the Goettge Patrol, led by Lieutenant Colonel Frank Goettge.

The movie was produced by Bryan Foy, who also produced Berlin Correspondent (1942), Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas (1943), and PT 109 (1963).

Plot summary

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On July 26, 1942, the 1st Marine Division is sailing towards Guadalcanal. On August 7, the Marines land on Guadalcanal with no initial opposition. They find an abandoned village and capture an airfield, which the Americans work to complete, and rename it Henderson Field. Based on a tip from a Japanese deserter, the Marines leave by boat for the village of Matanikau, where there are supposedly a large number of Japanese troops who want to surrender. On the way, one boat is destroyed by a Japanese submarine before it is sunk by onshore Marine artillery.

The Marines walk into a trap, and only Private Soose Alvarez survives to make it back to American lines. The Marines then march on Matanikau in force and on the way, Private "Chicken" Anderson is wounded by a Japanese officer, who pretended to be dead. The Marines enjoy mail call but suffer Japanese air force bombing raids. Army troops land to support the Marines. They launch a campaign to root Japanese troops out of a series of caves and try to listen to the results of Game Two of the 1942 World Series, but static unfortunately prevents them from hearing the final score.

The Marines are both shelled by the Japanese navy and bombed by their air force. A force of Marine fighter planes land on the island. All the Marines write letters home. They launch an attack on the Japanese during which Alvarez is killed. The Marines are relieved and evacuated from the island.

Cast

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Production notes

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Guadalcanal Diary was shot from May 14 to late July, 1943, mostly on location at Camp Pendleton, near Oceanside, California.[4] Many of the Marines stationed there were filmed on maneuvers, and others appeared in the picture in small speaking parts or as extras.[4] The picture marked the screen debuts of stage actor Robert Rose and Richard Jaeckel, who was a studio messenger boy when he was cast in the production. On February 28, 1944, Foster, Bendix, Nolan and Jaeckel reprised their roles for the Lux Radio Theatre presentation of Guadalcanal Diary.[4]

The film was partly based on the experiences of surviving Marines from the ill-fated Goettge patrol during the Battle of Guadalcanal. Captain James Cross represented the patrol's leader, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Goettge, who was killed during the patrol. Private Soose Alvarez, the lone surviving Marine in the movie's patrol, was based on Sergeant Frank Few, one of the Goettge patrol's survivors.[5]

Reception

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Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called the film "stirring and inspiring in many ways" and particularly praised the first part of the film as "almost documentarily real" but also criticized historical inaccuracies in the film's presentation of the battle as well as "comparatively routine" fighting scenes.[6] Variety wrote: "It is at times a sobering film and at other times an exalting one. It is also an almost continuously entertaining one."[7] Harrison's Reports wrote, "Excellent! ... The producers rate a salute for having treated their subject with the honesty and dignity it deserves."[8]

However, David Lardner of The New Yorker wrote a negative review, criticizing the film for containing "every cliché known to man" and for the Marines being depicted as having "altogether too soft a time ... None of the mood of just sitting and taking it until you don't remember where you are any more or how you got there is put across on the screen."[9]

References

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  1. ^ Hanson, Patricia King, ed. (1999). American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1941-1950. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 948. ISBN 0-520-21521-4.
  2. ^ "Top Grossers of the Season", Variety, 5 January 1944 p 54
  3. ^ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 p 220
  4. ^ a b c "Guadalcanal Diary". American Film Institute. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  5. ^ "The Ill-Fated Goettge Patrol". Warfare History Network. May 2004.
  6. ^ Crowther, Bosley (November 18, 1943). "Movie Review - Guadalcanal Diary". The New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  7. ^ "Film Reviews". Variety. New York: Variety, Inc.: 10 October 27, 1943.
  8. ^ "'Guadalcanal Diary' with Preston Foster, William Bendix and Lloyd Nolan". Harrison's Reports: 175. October 30, 1943.
  9. ^ Lardner, David (November 27, 1943). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. New York: F-R Publishing Corp. pp. 92–93.
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