Manila Calling (1942)

MANILA CALLING 1942This pretty good 20th Century Fox B-production delivers plenty of flag-waving action and the like. The film is set in the Philippines just after the fall of Bataan. A group of American construction workers and a few Filipino soldiers are making their way through the jungle to the coast. They hope to snag a boat and sail to Australia or the like. They are armed with a collection of weapons gleamed from various sources, hunting rifles, ex-Army rifles and a few captured Japanese weapons. The group includes, Lloyd Nolan, Cornel Wilde, James Gleason, E. Cook Jr, Jean Louis Heydt, Harold Huber, Ted North, Martin Kosleck and Ralph Byrd. As they go through the bush, they destroy anything that might be of use to the oncoming Japanese Forces.The group comes up on a small plantation which serves as a radio station for the surrounding area. The men jump a detachment of Japanese troops manning the radio station, killing most, and running off the rest. The men however discover that there is little in the way of food and supplies. The few Japanese who had escaped now take up spots in the jungle and snipe at the Americans. They also blow up the water supply. Now we have an unexpected arrival at the plantation. Carole Landis, a hard bitten showgirl shows. She is also on the run from the Japanese. Needless to say, Landis, who is built like the proverbial brick ……., is easy on everyone's eyes. In the meantime, some Japanese reinforcements have arrived and try an attack. The Americans and Filipinos manage to beat back the assault, but lose several of their number. The Japanese now have a fighter strafe the hilltop station. The men get in a lucky shot and bring the aircraft down for a crash landing near the station.Cornel Wilde figures the Japanese have the group surrounded. He suggests they put the radio station to good use and broadcast to the locals. He figures it will help morale among the Filipino people who might be listening. The group is all for it and soon has the radio up and running. One of the group, Harold Huber, has also repaired the Japanese fighter. He just happens to also be a pilot. Huber figures he can take one of the wounded men and Miss Landis and make for the coast.Needless to say the Japanese are not amused with the whole set-up. Snipers and the odd attack are whittling away the numbers of the group. Cornel Wilde is soon plugged and Lloyd Nolan steps up.He sends Huber off with the wounded and Miss Landis. Landis however refuses to go, and stays to help man the radio. The Japanese by this time have whistled up some heavy duty assistance. A squadron of bombers appears and starts to plaster the station. Of course the film ends with Nolan, Kosleck and Landis broadcasting as the bombs start to rain down.This one is a pretty good wartime flag-waver, with lots of action and a better than expected story. It was nice to see Martin Kosleck in something besides a Nazi uniform. Kosleck was everyone's Nazi of choice when casting wartime films. I also would watch anything with the buxom Carole Landis. She never quite hit true stardom before her early death at age 29. Landis, (The Blonde Bomber) never seemed to give a bad performance. The director here is Herbert Leeds. Leeds was best known for several Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto and Michael Shayne films. The cinematographer was long serving, Lucien Andriot. Andriot started in films in 1909 and finished in 1960. He was a competent pro who worked on several hundred productions These include the wartime films, Paris AFTER DARK, SECRET AGENT OF JAPAN, THE SULLIVANS and THEY CAME TO BLOW UP America,

If you are a fan of 1940s actress Carole Landis this is a must-see movie. I'm thrilled that Fox has finally released it on DVD. Carole plays a showgirl who gets trapped with a group of soldiers in the Phillipines during World War 2. Her costar and love interest is the always terrific Lloyd Nolan. This drama has a really wonderful cast including Cornel Wilde, Elisha Cook Jr, and James Gleason. The groups tries to stay alive on a plantation when they get attacked by the enemy. Manila Calling has some great action and a few heart wrenching scenes. It's one of my favorite WW2 movies and one of Carole's best performances. TEN STARS!!!!! For years this movie was very hard to find but now Manila Calling is available on DVD from amazon and movies unlimited. I highly recommend it :-)

During the late 60's & early 70's N.Y. WWOR CHANNEL 9 would run the same movie every day for a week (this was a long time before VCR's). I would watch it every chance I had, unfortunately it's not currently available in any format. This movie is where Steven Spielberg came up with the ever so "original" sniper praying to hit his mark. As I remember the soldiers were stationed in a barbedwire fenced compound which reminds me of the T.V. series Daktari. The "japs" would snipe at the Americans, and in turn the Scottish sniper would slip out and hunt the "japs". Other films of this quality; BATAAN, GUNG HO! (1943)

Manilla calling chronicles the activities of a group of Americans, cut off and trapped in Luzon by the Japanese advance. They elected to hide in the mountains rather than surrender and go to Japanese prison camps. Lloyd Nolan plays a role as a tough guy with a soft heart. It has little hype and no revisionist history, an accurate account of how it was.