The Leathernecks Have Landed
Cast & Crew
Howard Bretherton
Lew Ayres
Isabel Jewell
Jimmy Ellison
James Burke
J. Carrol Naish
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When United States Marine Woody Davis starts a fight while on liberty, he and his cronies, Tubby Waters and "Mac" MacDonald, are arrested, and Mac, who is due for a promotion, is warned against becoming too devoted to his trouble-making friend. In Shanghai, Woody and Tubby go to the Bar Russe looking for "Russian blondes," and hear a stranger, Drenov, insult America. Woody starts a brawl in which Tubby is killed by Drenov and Woody is then dishonorably discharged from the Marines. With the help of "Brooklyn," a fast-talking demimonde from New York who witnessed Tubby's murder, Woody discovers that Drenov works for the Transpacific Mining Supply Co., which acts as a front for gunrunning for Chinese rebels. Woody goes to the gunrunners' office and struggles with Drenov, who has a gun, and the Russian is killed. Drenov's boss, Corrigan, then offers Drenov's job to Woody, who says he has no loyalties to either side in the war. While smuggling ammunition in a staged funeral procession, Woody sees his old friend Mac, who is now a lieutenant assigned to fight contraband in Shanghai. After Drenov's body is pulled from the river, Enrico "Rico" Venetzi, the bartender of Bar Russe, is interrogated regarding Tubby's murder, and Brooklyn leaves to warn Woody, who is waiting with Corrigan for a shipment at the international settlement outside Shanghai. There, an American businessman calls for Marine protection when he learns that Chang, leader of the rebels, has crossed the border. Woody then tells Corrigan he is out of the deal if the Marines arrive. The Marines do arrive and Mac learns that Woody is involved with Corrigan, the gunrunner they have been looking for. Mac and Tex, his partner, then arrest Woody just as Chang and his rebels arrive. Chang, believing Corrigan to be a traitor, shoots him, and ties up Mac and Tex. While the Marines fight the rebels, Woody shoots Chang and releases Mac and Tex, handing over the contraband to the Marines. As the rebels enter the warehouse, Woody blows it up with a grenade. Although the Marines win the battle, Tex dies, and Woody and Mac are wounded. While recovering in a hospital, Woody is reinstated in the Marines and sent to the Philippines, where Brooklyn is to meet him.
Director
Howard Bretherton
Cast
Lew Ayres
Isabel Jewell
Jimmy Ellison
James Burke
J. Carrol Naish
Clay Clement
Maynard Holmes
Ward Bond
Paul Porcasi
Claude King
Christian Rub
Joseph Sawyer
Henry Mowbray
John Webb Dillion
Louis Vincenot
Lal Chand Mehra
Frank Tang
Beal Wong
Victor Wong
Ray "crash" Corrigan
Robert Strange
Montague Shaw
Crew
Lieutenant Frank Adreon
Ken Goldsmith
James Gruen
E. R. Hickson
Robert Jahns
Terry Kellum
Joseph H. Lewis
Jack Marta
Ernest Miller
Seton I. Miller
George Sherman
Wellyn Totman
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film was "respectfully" dedicated to the 13th Battalion, F.M.C.R., United States Marine Corps, United States Marine Corps Reserve, with "appreciation for their advice and cooperation." According to the New York Times review, this film was based in part on the activities of Chinese warlord General Chang Tso-lin (1873-1928) and his band of Manchurian brigands. The review states, "There seems to have been an honest doubt in the minds of those responsible for the picture over whether the forces of General Chang should be called bandits or rebels, but, under either label, the Leathernecks disposed of a lot of them in the process of protecting an oil company and a mining company in the interior of China." Stock newsreel footage of Marines was used in this film. Technical advisor Frank Adreon was an officer of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. According to a news item in Hollywood Reporter on November 21, 1935, Robert Welsh was hired as supervisor for this film, although he was later replaced by Ken Goldsmith. According to a news item in Motion Picture Herald, at the film's opening at the Globe theater in New York, twenty U.S. Marines in full dress regalia went through formations in the lobby. The stunt was supervised by Ed Finney, Republic advertising head, and executed by Bill Peirce, Republic's exploitation director. A news item in Hollywood Reporter on July 8, 1935 announced that John Reinhardt was writing a story for a Mascot film entitled The Leathernecks Are Coming for Repulic release, which was to start production in the fall of 1935. This Mascot picture May have become The Leathernecks Have Landed.
