Pride of the Marines (1945)

                   Al Schmid was one of the most famous Marine heroes from WWII.  He was blinded defending a machine gun position against a massive Japanese banzai attack on Guadalcanal.  He was a good choice for a biopic to boost morale during the war.  Warner Brothers took up the task.  The book “Al Schmid Marine” by Roger Butterfield was adapted.  The screenplay was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.  It was directed by Delmer Davis (“Destination Tokyo” and “Task Force”).  It was a box office success.

                   The movie opens with narration by Schmid.  We get a tour of his home town of Philadelphia, including the Liberty Bell and Betsy Ross’ home.  Patriotism!  Early on we get a “gee willikers!”  It’s that kind of movie.  The first part of the movie establishes Schmid as the confirmed bachelor, but quite the ladies’ man.  He lives with a married couple.  Al:  “I live alone and like it.”  Jim:  “You  live alone and look it.”  Oh, 1940’s snap!  May sets up Al with a feisty woman named Ruth (Eleanor Parker).  She thinks he’s a “drip” and they hate-banter, so you know they are cinematicly destined.  After Pearl Harbor, Al enlists because “shooting Japs will be more fun than shooting bears.”  The second part skips the boot camp montage and plunges Schmid into Guadalcanal where one Marine says:  “I’m gonna dig this hole so deep it will be just short of desertion.”  Some of the slang we get:  dope, scuttlebutt, chow, smokes. The Japanese are called “nips” or “shambos”.  On the fateful night of the Battle of Tenaru, Schmid and two mates are in a fox hole with a M1917 Browning machine gun.  The night starts with “Maline, tonite you die!”  Response:  “Eat dirt, Tojo!”  Or if you want to be more specific:  “I’ll give you blood poisoning, you ring-tails!”  Unfortunately, one of those ring-tails throws a grenade that blinds Al.  The third part has Schmid dealing with his blinding and determined to avoid Ruth.  “Dear Ruth, I’m not coming back.  Good luck”. 

                   “Pride of the Marines” is slightly better than your typical WWII biopic.  The acting is fine from a good cast.  Garfield was a pretty big star back then.  He befriended the Schmids so he took the role seriously.  He really did not have the range for the role, but he’s appealing.  The dialogue has some good cracks in it, but it is fairly standard.  It keeps the patriotism down, except for one cringe-worthy scene among disabled veterans in the hospital which concludes with a terribly schmaltzy speech.  There is a clear theme of accepting wounded veterans back into society.  Give them a job!  Although a war movie, there is only one brief combat scene.  It is done on a sound stage, so don’t expect much.  It is pretty accurate in covering his Navy Cross-worthy effort.  The Japanese attack involved 800 men.  Schmid was wounded several times, but continued to fire for four hours, even after he was blinded.  200 bodies were found in front of their position.  He did go through a rough rehabilitation period, but I could not find out if the melodramatic romantic developments occurred.  I would assume Hollywood had some say on how his relationship with Ruth was portrayed.

                   “Pride of the Marines” is very much a product of its time.  Contrast it with more recent disabled veteran movies like “Born on the 4^th of July” and “Coming Home”.  In “Pride”, the hospital is almost like a frat house.  We’ve come a long way in handling the subject realistically.  But we have also become more cynical in handling our heroes.  Schmid deserved a movie and it does him justice, even though it is simplistic and overly patriotic.

GRADE  =  C