By Frank Miller
Marine Raiders
Brief Synopsis
Marine buddies training in Australia battle over love.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Harold Schuster
Director
Pat O'brien
Major Steve Lockhard
Ruth Hussey
Ellen Foster
Robert Ryan
Capt. Dan Craig
Frank Mchugh
Sgt. Louis Leary
Barton Maclane
Sgt. Maguire
Film Details
Genre
War
Action
Adventure
Release Date
Jan
1944
Premiere Information
New York opening: week of 30 Jun 1944
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 31m
Sound
Mono (RCA Victor System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8,165ft
Synopsis
In the wake of Japanese attacks on Guadalcanal, Captain Dan Craig of the Paramarines and Major Steve Lockhard of the U.S. Marine Corps report to the island and are ordered to repel the Japanese troops. When Dan discovers the body of one of his men, Lt. Tony Hewitt, sadistically tortured and murdered by the Japanese, he goes berserk and charges into the jungle. After restraining Dan, Steve warns his friend that he must learn to control his impulses. With their mission completed, the troops are relieved and board a ship bound for Australia. In an Australian bar, Dan meets Ellen Foster, a member of the Woman's Airforce Auxiliary. Sensing Dan's restlessness, Ellen is sympathetic to him, and he asks to take a drive in her car. As they drive along the beach, Ellen confides her concerns about her two brothers who are serving in Africa. After dancing away most of the night, the couple walk along the beach and realize that they have fallen in love. When Dan tells Ellen that he is leaving on duty the next morning, she suggests they immediately marry, but Dan demurs, claiming that wartime life is too uncertain to make such a serious commitment. When Ellen protests that, despite the uncertainty, she is still willing to take a chance, Dan reconsiders, and they search out a minister. Before they can reach the minister, however, Dan is wounded in a surprise air attack and hospitalized. After Ellen leaves Dan's bedside to go on duty, Steve visits his friend with orders to return to the U.S. When Dan informs him of his impending marriage, Steve thinks that his friend has succumbed to the charms of a woman while in an emotionally unstable state and arranges for him to be shipped out with the rest of the troops. Upon returning to the hospital, Ellen learns that Dan has gone and watches as his ship disappears into the night. Steve's actions cause Dan to renounce their friendship, and as a result, when the two arrive at the naval base in San Diego, they are barely speaking to each other. When they are both assigned to teach the raw recruits of Camp Elliott the art of modern combat, Dan protests that he would rather go back to the front, but his request is denied. While in town one night, Dan unsuccessfully tries to contact Ellen, and afterward, he overhears Jimmy Fowler and Sally Parker tearfully record their farewells before Jimmy is sent overseas. On the drive back to camp, Jimmy asks Dan's advice about marrying Sally, and Dan asserts that, as participants in the war, women are fully aware of the dangers. At the base, Steve is ordered to lead the troops into action, but a general, sensing Dan's instability, assigns him to a desk job in Washington, D.C. Steve defends Dan's behavior, claiming that he caused his friend's unhappiness by breaking up his romance. The general accepts Steve's explanation, and the two men return to Australia to spearhead the invasion of an enemy island. With less than forty-eight hours before the start of their mission, Dan finds Ellen and they are finally married. The next morning, Ellen introduces herself to Steve as Dan's wife. In the last hours before shipping out, Steve, Dan and Ellen celebrate, and as Steve goes to lead his troops, Ellen offers him her friendship and he comes to accept her as one of his family. Early the next morning, Ellen bids Dan a tearful farewell and he joins his men. As Dan takes to the air with his Paramarines, Steve commands the landing forces at sea. Dan and his men parachute over the island, their mission to block the roads and delay enemy reinforcements so that the Marines can land. When Dan's troops are outflanked by enemy forces, Steve orders them to pull back to the beach, but in a daring maneuver, Dan rallies his men to overtake the enemy machine guns firing from the hills. With the enemy firepower eliminated, the U.S. forces land and secure the beachhead. In Australia, as Ellen listens to a radio broadcast announcing the success of Dan's mission, she steps onto the airstrip and utters words of inspiration to her husband across the sea.
Director
Harold Schuster
Director
Cast
Pat O'brien
Major Steve Lockhard
Ruth Hussey
Ellen Foster
Robert Ryan
Capt. Dan Craig
Frank Mchugh
Sgt. Louis Leary
Barton Maclane
Sgt. Maguire
Richard Martin
Jimmy Fowler
Edmund Glover
Miller
Russell Wade
Tony Hewitt
Robert Andersen
Lt. Harrigan
Michael St. Angel
Lt. Sherwood
Martha Macvicar
Sally Parker
Harry Brown
Harry
Sammy Stein
Sergeant
Edward Fielding
General Slayton
William Forrest
Col. Carter
Richard Davies
Instructor
Jimmy Jordan
Jackson
Chris Drake
Orderly
Tom Burton
Orderly
Mike Kilian
Shoe gag soldier
Patrick O'moore
Doctor
Patricia Cameron
Nurse
Robert Dane
Lieut. J. G.
Steve Winston
Corporal
Herbert Clifton
Waiter
Audrey Manners
Australian WAAF
John Rogers
Australian bar man
Peter Dane
English officer
Cliff Clark
Marine general
Tony Hughes
Army colonel
Selmar Jackson
Col. Douglas
Stanley Price
Marine
Don Dillaway
Marine
Carl Kent
Marine
Glenn Vernon
Marine
Blake Edwards
Marine
James Damore
Marine
Melvin Mix
Marine
Jimmy Evans
Marine
James Hamilton
Marine
Jack Reeves
Marine
Eddie Lee
Japanese officer
James B. Leong
Japanese officer
Harold Fong
Japanese officer
Albert Law
Japanese officer
John Shaw
Marine gunner
Harry Clay
Wounded marine
Jon Davison
Officer on bridge
Bert Moorhouse
Ship's captain
Eddie Woods
Officer on ship
Jack Louque
Tank driver
Gordon Carveth
Truck driver
Steve Barclay
Soldier
Barry Macollum
Innkeeper
Daun Kennedy
Model
Mike Lally
Conductor
Isabel O'madigan
Newswoman
Eddie Acuff
Marine veteran
John Sheehan
Spieler
Frank Dawson
Minister
Fred Sherman
Cab driver
John Elliott
Admiral
Laurie Sherman
Communications corp.
George Ford
Flyer
Crew
C. Bakaleinikoff
Music Director
Mel Berns
Makeup Artist
Captain Clay Boyd U.s.m.c.
Tech Director
Melville Burke
Dialogue Director
Albert S. D'agostino
Art Director
Warren Duff
Screenwriter
Warren Duff
Original Story
Robert Fellows
Producer
Walter E. Keller
Art Director
Edward Killy
Unit Director
Philip Martin Jr.
Film Editor
Harley Miller
Set Decoration
Nicholas Musuraca
Director of Photography
Jerome Odlum
Contr to Screenplay const
Martin Rackin
Original Story
Sam Ruman
Assistant Director
Darrell Silvera
Set Decoration
Edward Stevenson
Gowns
James G. Stewart
Re-Recording
James S. Thomson
Recording
Vernon L. Walker
Special Effects
Roy Webb
Music
Robert Wise
Director addl scenes
Film Details
Genre
War
Action
Adventure
Release Date
Jan
1944
Premiere Information
New York opening: week of 30 Jun 1944
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 31m
Sound
Mono (RCA Victor System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8,165ft
Articles
Marine Raiders -
Like most Hollywood studios during World War II, RKO drew on war headlines and wartime newsreel footage to create this rousing actioner. The film focuses on the creation of the Marine Raiders, small hit-and-run units designed to take out strategic enemy outposts in the Pacific. Though they were instrumental in taking back Guadalcanal and other islands, they were disbanded months before the film named for them was released. Marine Raiders opens with the Battle of Bloody Ridge on Guadalcanal in September 1942 and ends with the Bougainville landing in November 1943. In between RKO treats viewers to training scenes using footage from the Marine camps around San Diego, a romance between U.S. Marine Robert Ryan and Australian officer Ruth Hussey, an air raid and tension between Ryan and friend Pat O'Brien over Ryan's intentions to wed Hussey. The U.S. Armed Forces assisted in the making of the film, providing battle footage to be inserted into fictional scenes of combat. Director of photography Nicholas Musuraca used dim lighting for those scenes to disguise the fact that they were shot on an RKO sound stage. Their look anticipates the work he would do on such films noirs as Out of the Past (1947) and Where Danger Lives (1950).
By Frank Miller
By Frank Miller
Marine Raiders -
Like most Hollywood studios during World War II, RKO drew on war headlines and wartime newsreel footage to create this rousing actioner. The film focuses on the creation of the Marine Raiders, small hit-and-run units designed to take out strategic enemy outposts in the Pacific. Though they were instrumental in taking back Guadalcanal and other islands, they were disbanded months before the film named for them was released. Marine Raiders opens with the Battle of Bloody Ridge on Guadalcanal in September 1942 and ends with the Bougainville landing in November 1943. In between RKO treats viewers to training scenes using footage from the Marine camps around San Diego, a romance between U.S. Marine Robert Ryan and Australian officer Ruth Hussey, an air raid and tension between Ryan and friend Pat O'Brien over Ryan's intentions to wed Hussey. The U.S. Armed Forces assisted in the making of the film, providing battle footage to be inserted into fictional scenes of combat. Director of photography Nicholas Musuraca used dim lighting for those scenes to disguise the fact that they were shot on an RKO sound stage. Their look anticipates the work he would do on such films noirs as Out of the Past (1947) and Where Danger Lives (1950). By Frank Miller
Robert Wise (1914-2005)
Born on September 10, 1914 in Winchester, Ind., Wise was a child of the Depression who quit college to earn a living in the movie industry. He began as an assistant cutter at RKO, where he worked his way up to the position of film editor and earned an Oscar® nomination for his bravura work with Orson Welles on Citizen Kane. He also edited The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) for Welles, along with several other RKO films.
Wise became a director by default when RKO and producer Val Lewton assigned him to The Curse of the Cat People (1944) after Gunther von Fritsch failed to meet the film's production schedule. Wise turned the film into a first-rate psychological thriller, and enjoyed equal success with another Lewton horror film, The Body Snatcher (1945).
Critical praise also was showered upon Wise's Born to Kill (1947), a crime melodrama; and Blood on the Moon (1948), an unusual psychological Western starring Robert Mitchum. Even more highly regarded was The Set-Up (1949), a no-punches-pulled boxing drama that won the Critics' Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Wise moved on from RKO in the early 1950s, directing one of the movies' classic alien invasion films, The Day the Earth Stood Still, for 20th Century Fox.
At MGM he directed Executive Suite (1954), a compelling all-star boardroom drama; Somebody Up There Likes Me, a film bio of boxer Rocky Graziano that established Paul Newman as a major star; and The Haunting (1963), a chilling haunted-hause melodrama. His films for United Artists include Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), a submarine drama with Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster; I Want to Live! (1958), a harrowing account of a convicted murderess on Death Row, with Susan Hayward in her Oscar-winning performance; and the crime caper Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).
Wise served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Directors Guild of America. He was awarded the Academy's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1966, and the Directors Guild's highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award, in 1988. He remained active as a director through the 1970s. His final film, Rooftops (1989) was a musical with an urban setting that recalled West Side Story.
The films in TCM's salute to Robert Wise are Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Curse of the Cat People (1944), The Body Snatcher (1945), Born to Kill (1947), Blood on the Moon (1948), The Set-Up (1949), Executive Suite (1954), Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), B>West Side Story (1959), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) and The Haunting (1963).
by Roger Fristoe
Robert Wise (1914-2005)
Robert Wise, who died at age 91 on September 14, was the noted film editor of Citizen Kane (1941) and other movies before he became a producer and director, and all his works are marked by striking visual rhythms. He is best remembered for two enormously popular musicals, West Side Story (1959) and The Sound of Music (1965), which brought him a total of four Oscars® -- each winning for Best Picture and Best Director. (Wise's directorial award for West Side Story was shared with Jerome Robbins.)
Born on September 10, 1914 in Winchester, Ind., Wise was a child of the Depression who quit college to earn a living in the movie industry. He began as an assistant cutter at RKO, where he worked his way up to the position of film editor and earned an Oscar® nomination for his bravura work with Orson Welles on Citizen Kane. He also edited The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) for Welles, along with several other RKO films.
Wise became a director by default when RKO and producer Val Lewton assigned him to The Curse of the Cat People (1944) after Gunther von Fritsch failed to meet the film's production schedule. Wise turned the film into a first-rate psychological thriller, and enjoyed equal success with another Lewton horror film, The Body Snatcher (1945).
Critical praise also was showered upon Wise's Born to Kill (1947), a crime melodrama; and Blood on the Moon (1948), an unusual psychological Western starring Robert Mitchum. Even more highly regarded was The Set-Up (1949), a no-punches-pulled boxing drama that won the Critics' Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Wise moved on from RKO in the early 1950s, directing one of the movies' classic alien invasion films, The Day the Earth Stood Still, for 20th Century Fox.
At MGM he directed Executive Suite (1954), a compelling all-star boardroom drama; Somebody Up There Likes Me, a film bio of boxer Rocky Graziano that established Paul Newman as a major star; and The Haunting (1963), a chilling haunted-hause melodrama. His films for United Artists include Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), a submarine drama with Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster; I Want to Live! (1958), a harrowing account of a convicted murderess on Death Row, with Susan Hayward in her Oscar-winning performance; and the crime caper Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).
Wise served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Directors Guild of America. He was awarded the Academy's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1966, and the Directors Guild's highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award, in 1988. He remained active as a director through the 1970s. His final film, Rooftops (1989) was a musical with an urban setting that recalled West Side Story.
The films in TCM's salute to Robert Wise are Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Curse of the Cat People (1944), The Body Snatcher (1945), Born to Kill (1947), Blood on the Moon (1948), The Set-Up (1949), Executive Suite (1954), Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), B>West Side Story (1959), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) and The Haunting (1963).
by Roger Fristoe
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The opening credits include the following acknowledgment: "We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the United States Marine Corps, the Navy, the Coast Guard and Army, whose assistance made this picture possible." According to the Variety review, the U.S. government provided the film clips of naval attacks on Guadalcanal and the sequence detailing the training of Marine recruits at Camp Elliott, CA. Although a pre-production news item in Los Angeles Times credits actor Don Barry with the original story, Barry is not credited by any other source, and the extent of his contribution to the released film has not been determined. Pre-production news items in Hollywood Reporter add that Anne Shirley and Tom Bryson were considered for leading roles in the film and Ray Enright was intially slated to direct. Ruth Hussey was finally borrowed from M-G-M to play the female lead. Although a Hollywood Reporter production chart places Barbara Hale, Lawrence Tierney and Joseph Vitale in the cast, they do not appear in the released film. Other items in Hollywood Reporter add that background footage was shot at various Marine training camps around San Diego, CA. A January 20, 1944 Hollywood Reporter news item notes that Robert Wise directed pickup shots and added scenes. According to Hollywood Reporter, the Los Angeles premiere was staged at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre on July 19, 1944 to climax a Marine Day Bond Drive benefiting the Marine Corps League.
