This is a very humanistic film. It shows the bravery, suffering, humor and strength of both men and women who were defending an island in the Phillipines called Corregidor in the first five months of World War II. I think it was meant to be a tribute to those men and women and I think it works as a tribute.

Unfortunately the DVD copy, as most reviewers have mentioned, is not very good. I am not sure if the problem is in the print used or the transfer. It is possible that the print had faded, so there was little that could have been done. It would be nice to see a good print if one exists with a good transfer.

The movie is a little bit of everything, some light, romantic scenes, some comradely kidding scenes, some strong gutsy speeches, and a lot of battle action. Hanging over these elements and keeping them from being enjoyable is the notion that this was ultimately a hard, military defeat. Surprisingly, an almost equal number of Americans and Japanese are seen dying in the battles.

When this film was made in 1943, the war still going on. Corregidor was only recaptured in 1945. 800 Americans were killed and some 11,000 American and Philipinos were still prisoners of war when the film was made. The Japanese lost 900 men. A simple operation that was supposed to take only a few weeks, ended up taking them five months. The time and manpower they lost was crucial and hoped set up the defeats the Japanese suffered in the next few months of the war.

This is actually a much grittier, more heartfelt and less romantic view of this battle than the popular John Ford/John Wayne movie made about it two years later, "They Were Expendable". That was a satisfying Hollywood movie that was more of a celebration than a tribute. There is little in that film of the gloomy atmosphere that appears in this film.

The script by Doris Malloy and great low-budget filmmaker Edgar Ulmer is fine. Direction by veteran director William Nigh (this was number 106 out 120 films) is crisp. The battles in the second half of the film do seem to dominate the human characters. None of the battles are spectacular and they become a bit monotonous and even boring. Perhaps that is better than the glamorous and exciting battles that one so often finds in Hollywood war movies. It gives the film a somber, rather than a Gung-Ho tone and message.

This is not a great movie, but it is a good one worth watching, even on a DVD copy of a bad print.