I've noticed that many of the American WW2 movies dealing with the Filipino theatre of war feel very cheap and occasionally amateurish in nature. I don't know what it is about the subject matter that lends it to poor quality material but BACK TO BATAAN is no different. Perhaps it's a B-movie compared to the A-list features dealing with the European theatre of battle. This one is slightly different in that it wasn't actually filmed in the Philippines but rather in California, understandable as the war was still raging when this was shot in 1945.
The film is a stock gung-ho war effort featuring the likable John Wayne. He's not at his best here - I preferred him in period fare - although it's quite unusual to see him unshaven. He plays a single US soldier who stays on the island when the rest of the American forces flee in the wake of a massive Japanese invasion force. Wayne's goal is to persuade the Filipino villagers to rise up and begin a guerrilla war. What follows is plenty of stock action and incident and the odd sight of Anthony Quinn playing a Filipino character. It's not bad, quite watchable in fact, but not one of the Duke's best.
The film is a stock gung-ho war effort featuring the likable John Wayne. He's not at his best here - I preferred him in period fare - although it's quite unusual to see him unshaven. He plays a single US soldier who stays on the island when the rest of the American forces flee in the wake of a massive Japanese invasion force. Wayne's goal is to persuade the Filipino villagers to rise up and begin a guerrilla war. What follows is plenty of stock action and incident and the odd sight of Anthony Quinn playing a Filipino character. It's not bad, quite watchable in fact, but not one of the Duke's best.