One of the few remaining Lang films that I hadn't seen and that was at all accessible, I finally caught up with this color war film on AMC. Though not amongst the directors finest works, it was certainly worth a watch, with Tyrone Power leading a group of Navy enlisted men on a circuitous journey across the islands, at first in the hopes of making their way to safe Australia but eventually settling for becoming part of an American guerrilla warfare effort. The film is notable for not presenting the Japanese in as brutal a light as was common at the time -- though they certainly are "the enemy" in every way, and the film definitely has a rah-rah go America feeling to it at times, particularly the ending. The use of color is outstanding as I've found it always to be with this director despite his favoring black and white, and the performances are all quite solid. The problems lie mostly in the central third of the film as the guerrilla mission gets going; there's a little too much repetition here, and the romance between Power's ensign Palmer and Micheline Presle's Jeanne Martinez doesn't really seem necessary nor is it well thought out; overall the film feels a little too long and verges on tedious. But the final shootout is pretty well done and I certainly wasn't bored, even if this is a far from typical Lang effort that does not show him at his best.
Review of American Guerrilla in the Philippines
Interesting if only intermittently exciting uncharacteristic Lang war film
8 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers