Wake Island
by John Farrow
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DVD details
Actor: Albert Dekker, Brian Donlevy, Macdonald Carey, Robert Preston, William BendixDirector: John Farrow
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 88 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-05-25
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Wake Island
DVD Review: A Great Movie Reference for WW2
Summary: 4 Stars
"Wake Island" is a movie shot right after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and Wake Island. The movie, therefore, has to be taken in the context of the times - creating great anger against inferior Japanese forces and raising up the temperature of American audiences for the coming fight for freedom. You get some great actors of their time in the film - Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston and the everyman William Bendix (always the Brooklyn guy in the army). Well worthwhile for the World War II junkie and historian. DVD Review: Wake Island
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the great movies of 'defeat' done in the 1940s to celebrate the heroism of the American forces overrun by the Japanese in the Pacific in the early months of WW2. It is very much 'fictionalised' and introduces the stock characters and heroic gestures that fill Hollywood war movies up to the 1980s about. An insight into the mood in which WW2 was perceived at the time. A precious piece of history!DVD Review: A Classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a classic early WW2 movie. A rousing tale of the outnumbered garrison stationed on Wake Island. Well acted by Donlevy, Bendix and Preston. It's right up there with They Were Expendable, Guadalcanal Diary, and Battan. A must have for war movie buffs!DVD Review: Wake Island
Summary: 5 Stars
Wake Island (1942) chronicles the "real account" of the battle for Wake Island that occurred between December 8, 1941 and the fall of the island in latter December of the same year. The portrayed "real account" is by no means 100% accurate but does represent the patriotic theme that was prevelent in the U.S. during that time and does (more or less) follow the actual historical account of the battle. It is an excellent, stirring movie and the quality of the master is the best in terms of video and audio quality. The actors -- Brian Donlevy, William Bendix, Preston Foster and MacDonald Carey are all very believable in their roles. Special effects are good for that time period -- especially the initial Japanese invasion of the island that was thwarted by the outgunned, outmanned Marine garrison. The ending of the movie is not accurate at all and one that veterans of the particular Pacific theatre of operations resented at the end of the war.DVD Review: Realistic study of brave men in War...
Summary: 3 Stars
"Wake Island" is a battle for a small atoll in the Central Pacific Ocean west of Honolulu, which was attacked by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, hours after Pearl Harbor... The small U.S. marine garrison held out until the Japanese overran the island on December 23...
It is a story of sacrifice of the gallant and doomed defenders, movingly portrayed by William Bendix, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, MacDonald Carey and others... The battle scenes are chillingly photographed in Black and White, and the movie blows the clarion call for a new heroism... It is the 'Alamo of the Pacific,' the cry of 'Remember Wake Island," with the same stirring effects as 'Remember the Alamo,' one hundred years previously...
Well done within its limits, the film bears the unmistakable stamp of truth, and hails as a realistic portrayal of brave men in war...
Description of Wake Island
Wake Island, a sandbar rising 21 feet out of the South Pacific, was among the first U.S. outposts to be hit by the Japanese, virtually simultaneously with Pearl Harbor. Wake Island the movie was among Hollywood's earliest responses to America's being attacked and drawn into WWII. The Marine Corps defenders of Wake became instant war heroes, akin to the martyrs of the Alamo. Nothing could be done to rescue or even to reinforce and resupply them, and they fought on through air attacks and naval bombardment for two weeks until, finally overrun, they were wiped out.That searing historical context had a lot to do with the movie's impact in 1942, and the sight of the dark forms of enemy planes coming over the horizon for the first time still carries a shock. Wake Island's a decent film, and it doesn't dishonor its subject with sham heroics and grandstanding. But the New York Film Critics voted John Farrow best director of 1942, and that's a reach. The first half hour sets up the allegory of America as melting pot (there's even a corporal named Goebbels), establishes horseplay as the coin of democratic discourse (especially for gyrenes Robert Preston and the Oscar-nominated William Bendix), and fosters familiar friction between new commander Brian Donlevy and civilian construction supervisor Albert Dekker. Then shortly after a beaming Japanese peace envoy has stopped by for dinner, things get rough. The scenes of warfare are more than adequate, but they'd soon be outdone, sometimes in films much less worthy than Wake Island. --Richard T. Jameson
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