Back to Bataan is one of two films that deal with guerrilla warfare in the Phillipine Islands during World War II, the other being An American Guerilla in the Phillipines. The latter is a better film, but it has the advantage of several years of perspective and better preparation. Another reviewer complained that the Japanese were using American equipment. True, but in 1945 RKO studios did not have Japanese equipment available.
This is also the product of one of the smaller studios. Had this product been made at MGM or Paramount, no doubt it would have been better done. In 1945 the studios were just starting to wind down the production of propaganda war films. The more perspective one gets about an event like World War II, the more realistic the films will be.
Nevertheless given the script and budget they had players John Wayne and Anthony Quinn do a creditable job in their roles. Wayne is an Army Colonel told by General Jonathan Wainwright to go into the hills and organize resistance. Wainwright is not expecting the Americans at Bataan and Corregidor to be holding out much longer. Wayne does so and as a propaganda move rescues Anthony Quinn who is the grandson of Andres Bonafacio who was leader of Phillipine resistance to the Spanish in the previous century.
It's a fact now acknowledged that the Japanese were seen as liberators in the Pacific war for most native populations. The only place they met real resistance was in the Phillipines among the natives. The United States had a promised deadline in 1946 to abandon its colonial status there. The Filipinos didn't want to exchange one colonial master for another.
Yet when I went to Manila in 1999 and saw the people there driving nothing but Toyotas, you kind of wonder who did win that war and what was it all about in the Pacific. What they couldn't conquer militarily the Japanese have conquered economically. What a world.
This is also the product of one of the smaller studios. Had this product been made at MGM or Paramount, no doubt it would have been better done. In 1945 the studios were just starting to wind down the production of propaganda war films. The more perspective one gets about an event like World War II, the more realistic the films will be.
Nevertheless given the script and budget they had players John Wayne and Anthony Quinn do a creditable job in their roles. Wayne is an Army Colonel told by General Jonathan Wainwright to go into the hills and organize resistance. Wainwright is not expecting the Americans at Bataan and Corregidor to be holding out much longer. Wayne does so and as a propaganda move rescues Anthony Quinn who is the grandson of Andres Bonafacio who was leader of Phillipine resistance to the Spanish in the previous century.
It's a fact now acknowledged that the Japanese were seen as liberators in the Pacific war for most native populations. The only place they met real resistance was in the Phillipines among the natives. The United States had a promised deadline in 1946 to abandon its colonial status there. The Filipinos didn't want to exchange one colonial master for another.
Yet when I went to Manila in 1999 and saw the people there driving nothing but Toyotas, you kind of wonder who did win that war and what was it all about in the Pacific. What they couldn't conquer militarily the Japanese have conquered economically. What a world.