Michael_Elliott
With the Marines at Tarawa (1944)*** (out of 4)Richard Brooks and Louis Hayward co-directed this WWII short that shows us the battle at Tarawa where less than a thousand American soldiers were killed battling the Japanese. If you watch these old WWII films you'll be struck by how brutally honest they are. These films were made to show people back in the States what was going on in the war and a lot of times these shorts were made to build up support for our troops. There were some films that were deemed too controversial to release including some by the great John Huston. This one here certainly isn't a masterpiece but at the same time it's pretty remarkable that you get to see so much of the battle footage and of course the harsh realities of the aftermath. The film was shot in color, which also helped bring the realism to life. This here certainly won't appeal to everyone but history buffs should be entertained by the footage.
SnoopyStyle
Director Louis Hayward delivers an important Oscar-winning documentary short about the Battle of Tarawa in the South Pacific. America suffered almost 1700 dead which shocked the country. The movie has colored war footage filmed by combat reporters right in the thick of the fight. It proved to be too graphic to exhibit until President Roosevelt approved it himself. It brings war documentary to a new level of realism. As propaganda, this is a very risky move by Roosevelt. The bloody fight could have sapped the resolve of the American people. Instead, the people rose to the occasion and come to understand the difficult fight yet to come.
Robert J. Maxwell
It's a documentary, mostly in color, made about the landing of US Marines on Tarawa, basically the first time an amphibious operation was launched against organized resistance in the war.And it's well done for what it is, a short film designed to boost morale at home. A lot of splendid and brave combat photographers accompanied the Marines in their slog across the small, low-lying sandy atoll. Some of the footage is startling -- half a dozen enemy soldiers running the gauntlet some 50 yards away while Marine riflemen try to bring them down, with both the Japanese and Americans in the same frame.They wouldn't make it this way today. The Japanese are "Japs." And their resistance is "fanatic." Instead of the monumental foul up of landing craft stuck on the reef -- a mistake due to inaccurate charts -- and the infantry having to wade across hundred of yards in the lagoon, sometimes drowning but always under enemy fire, we hear simply that "the Marines had to wade ashore." The enemy had been preparing for weeks for the invasion and were well dug in. The naval bombardment wasn't long enough and there were difficulties in communicating from shore to ship. A low atoll is a difficult target. And, like Porter Alexander's bombardment of Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg, many shells overshot the little island or bounced off it to explode in the sea on its far side. None of this is brought up.If it were being made today, surely the heroics of the actor, Eddie Albert, would be mentioned. He commanded a salvage boat carrying gasoline that rescued many wounded and stranded infantrymen while under heavy small arms fire.The errors and bad luck that plagued the operation aren't described for what I would presume to be a simple reason. Why give away the lessons you've learned to the enemy? It was a hellish battle, which only a handful of Japanese soldiers and Korean laborers survived. And this film provides a good overall sketch of the assault with a surprising amount of up-front combat footage.
