It is the story of a group of Army nurses who set out to sea in 1941. A few days out, however, they learn that Pearl Harbor has been attacked, and they now have to go to war. In the Philippines, they witness the ravages of combat and are forced to retreat from the military debacles of Bataan and Correigidor. Not all make it out alive. The story, in fact, is told in flashback, as an explanation to a doctor why the head nurse, Lt. Janet Davidson (Claudette Colbert) seems to be in a coma, even though she has no physical injuries.
The reason is, of course, mental trauma. She has lost the man she loves, John Summers (George Reeves, the later TV Superman), who she first met while en route to the Philippines. They are shown having a dueling courtship, finally getting married in secret, against regulations. The romantic angle is one of the less interesting aspects of the film, however.
The secondary romance, between spitfire Irish nurse Joan O'Doul (Paulette Goddard) and big'n'dumb Marine Kansas (Sonny Tufts) is also not terribly interesting, although the pair are quite funny together. No, the lighter elements of the film, the romance, flirtatiousness, the humor, are definitely not part of what gives the film whatever greatness it might have. So Proudly We Hail! is at its best when it is deadly serious.
Leads Colbert and Goddard, though fondly remembered for appearing in comedies (It Happened One Night and Modern Times, respectively) are also very good dramatic actors. Possibly the finest serious moments, however, belong to Veronica Lake, whose character is supremely cold, the opposite of what one would want in a nurse. Eventually, she is purged by revealing the big secret behind her coldness, but to the film's credit, she is not instantly transformed into a caring and nurturing nurse like her colleagues.
The best scenes in the film involve the casualty-heavy "strategic withdrawal" from Bataan. As the Japanese push forward, the nurses and their mobile hospital must be careful to stay ahead of the moving front line. Some of the nurses die. Lake's character, though she is unable to murder injured Japanese soldiers as she wishes to, is able to strike a blow against the enemy soldiers she hates so much, in a most surprising scene.
Eventually, the nurses have to escape into boats. The destruction of war as depicted in these scenes is nothing less than awesome, showing war for the hell it truly is. Though filmed over a half-century ago, they are easily among the most harrowing war scenes ever captured on film, showing a battlefieldat night, heavily scarred by explosions. Substituting the gory in the movie is the power of horrifying suggestion. There weren't enough boats to get everyone off. Lt. Davidson tells a young soldier that he won't fit in the boat with them, but he can hang onto an outrigger and kick. We see him several times, hanging on for dear life. Then, all at once, he is gone. Though filmmakers today might need gallons of fake blood to tell the same story (paging Paul Verhoeven), this film needs only to show a man missing to explain that in wartime, human life is cheap.
More combat scenes might have made this the war film for the ages. As it is saddled with the more conventional Hollywood romantic subplots, however, it becomes merely very good. As propaganda, it is first-rate, very moving indeed. The surgery scenes are fully the equal of those in M*A*S*H (both movie and television versions).
Three-and-a-half stars
Copyright 1998 by Dale G. Abersold
