grendelkhan This was one of the early wartime films to come out of Hollywood. The battle for Wake Island was still relatively fresh in the minds of the public, and the film uses that to its advantage. Make no mistake, this is propaganda, not history. However, it does a very good job of illustrating the stakes involved for the defenders and a pretty fair assessment of what was in store for the duration.Brian Donlevy stars as the major who has been placed in command of the Marine detachment on Wake Island. When he arrives, he finds a rather blasé bunch, stuck on an island that seems to have no value, except as a waypoint for the Pan-Am Clippers. William Bendix is a Marine whose enlistment is nearly up and who dreams of going home. Robert Preston is his friend and frequent sparring partner. Albert Dekker is McCloskey, a civilian contractor who has a low opinion of the Marines. It is this group of disparate people who will face the Japanese assault.The film sets out from the beginning to set you up for heartbreak. We see Donlevy say goodbye to his family, as his daughter gives him a gift of a cigarette case. We also see a young pilot who also says goodbye to his wife. This being Hollywood, we know what will happen. Donlevy takes command and shapes up the base. These scenes are played for both comedy (those involving Bendix and Preston) and to foreshadow the need to work together (Donlevy and Dekker's sparring over authority over the civilians).The film spends about a third to half of its length establishing the characters, while giving you the overwhelming sense of impending doom, as we see the command welcome the Japanese envoy to Washington. Donlevy has a look of distrust through the entire scene, setting up the coming treachery. Then, the attack comes.The battle sequences are played for drama and action, but are filled with glaring errors, such as the appearance of biplanes corkscrewing downwards, after we see monoplane "Japanese" aircraft shot out of the sky. The ships are obvious model work, though they are never too glaring. The most ridiculous part is the advance of Japanese soldiers, who walk slowly, without firing their weapons, only to be mowed down by Marine machine gunners. Remember, this is propaganda and we have to show the heroic defenders getting their licks in. Slowly, but surely, the stakes become even more dire.All in all, this is a fine piece of drama, as long as you keep in mind that this is wartime propaganda, and remember that Hollywood didn't have access to film footage and equipment that later productions would. The actors do a fine job, even when the characters are somewhat clichéd. The story is fairly predictable, but exciting. Meanwhile, if you look closely, you will see many familiar faces in the film, including TV favorites Hugh Beaumont, Alan Hale Jr., and Chuck Connors. The movie is a decent look at the high stakes of the early stages of WW2.

Bandit1066 The film glorifies the American fighting spirit at its best: an isolated contingent of dedicated soldiers, cutoff, with no hope of rescue, resupply, or reinforcement. The movie is essentially factually correct, particularly the thwarting of the first Japanese attack by holding fire until the invading fleet was within a few thousand yards of the island. The film omits the fact that a large number of civilian construction workers and soldiers were captured, most to be sent on the "death march," some to remain behind as captive labor until the end of the war, and then summarily executed by their Jap captors. Neither does the film show the conscious decision by the Navy to abandon any attempt at rescue because of fear of another attack on Pearl Harbor. Too bad, they probably could have been saved. But, then we never would have heard of Wake Island.

verbusen OK I'm still going to give Wake Island a 7 of 10 which is it's average here on IMDb, but.... I just read what actually happened after the Marine garrison surrendered. Jay Hawk's review seems to have been as jaded as I am now watching this great propaganda war movie, reading about the 98 that were executed is a real downer. I also saw in the midst of the air battle scenes out of nowhere there are at least two clips of a 20's era biplane trailing smoke. What was up with that? Maybe a seaplane? but its got wheels so that won't fly. For a movie that looks like its trying to be somewhat realistic they sure did goof on that (but that may have been a Paramount thing like they always did in 3 stooges flicks, just throw together any stock airplane footage even if it's different planes!). Dunlevy I think is great, but he is pretty wooden I guess looking back on it as I've read about him in reviews of a lot of other movies. Also, these guys are just way too happy to be getting shelled, and pretty much surrounded right after Pearl Harbor and invasion of the Phillipnes, basically you are totally screwed and these guys aren't showing it. I guess thats why "Bataan" even though purely fiction is a superior film because they show a lot of stress under combat were as here we have Bendix and Preston smiling to their deaths. OK I'm changing my rating to a 5 because this is an entertaining flick the first 3 times I've seen it, it's just too happy for my tastes and Dunlevy is a stick (and I thought I liked that dude, lol). One things for sure, in real life, the defenders got screwed. They should have been evacuated by subs. Their tale in captivity is as sad as those that were captured on the Doolittle Raid, go look those brave guys tales up, I dare you.

Robert J. Maxwell Three plots are going on simultaneously in this movie. (1) The conflict between the Marines manning the small garrison at Wake Island and the no-nonsense Pan American construction crew preparing a berth for the Pan Am clipper. (2) The horseplay and bonding between Robert Preston (who must have had one of the longest careers as a supporting actor in Hollywood) and William Bendix as the Marine enlisted man who wants to unenlist so he can marry the delectable Myrtle. (3) Then there are all the Americans fighting against overwhelming Japanese naval and air forces.This was one of the first war movies ground out after Pearl Harbor but it doesn't look especially hastily done. The Salton Sea location gives a good imitation of a flat, sandy Pacific island, which is pretty much what Wake Island was. The garrison was so tiny that only 47 enlisted men were available. The Marines and the Navy pilots fly F4F Wildcats, and this was crucial to the defense of the island. Most of them were destroyed on the ground or in accidents. But the few fighters available and the handful of relatively small caliber coastal defense guns inflicted serious damage on the first Japanese fleet, mostly by lying low until the invasion force was well within range. A second invasion attempt succeeded, after all the Wildcats were destroyed. The commander surrendered, along with the few survivors; they didn't sacrifice themselves to the last man as shown in the film. (What would that have accomplished?) But the movie was a great morale raiser at a time when the country desperately needed some morale raising.The conflict in goals and styles between the Marines (all discipline and training) and the construction men (shabby, rough-and-ready improvisers) is, I suppose, designed to teach us that we all have to work together now that war is upon us. It's rather clumsily done. Albert Dekker as the construction boss is unnecessarily nasty and contemptuous, and Brian Donlevy as the commander of the Marine forces is the soul of patience and reason. The subplot gets the job done but it's something like having your kindergarten teacher beat the letters of the alphabet into you. I rather liked the comedy relief provided by Preston and Bendix. Preston keeps trying to talk Bendix into reenlisting in the Corps but Bendix is determined to become a married civilian. Extolling Marine Corps life, Preston urges Bendix to close his eyes and think of what he REALLY wants. "All I see is Moitle," Bendix says. "No, no, no. Forget Myrtle. Close your eyes and put your hand over them and think -- now what do you really SEE?" Replies Bendix, "Nope. It's still Moitle." This is the kind of friendship you see only in the movies. They fall into fist fights at the drop of an insult, but are willing to sacrifice their lives for one another. It is a bit tedious in parts. But the end, some hyperdramatic touches aside, sticks pretty close to the historical facts. No, we didn't mount a successful defense of Wake Island. How could we, with so few supplies and men? But, like Pearl Harbor, it was the kind of defeat that could almost be depicted as a victory, both honorable and inevitable. And check out the cast! So many faces that were later to become so familiar, many of them uncredited. Dane Clark, James Brown. It's worth watching, though there is little about it that's gripping. The photography is notable -- crisp, clear, sunny black and white, with the sun scintillating on the surface of the sea. And the war scenes are unusually well done for such an early example of the genre.