Back to Bataan

"SEE! Battle of Bataan! March of Death! Guerilla Raids! Fierce bolo fighters in action!"

1945 1h 35m EN

😐

6.1

MID

★6.1TMDB · 72

WarDrama

Synopsis

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A U.S. Army colonel leads local fighters in a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese in the Philippines.

“SEE! Battle of Bataan! March of Death! Guerilla Raids! Fierce bolo fighters in action!”

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Cast

John Wayne
Colonel Joseph Madden
Beulah Bondi
Bertha Barnes
Anthony Quinn
Captain Andres Bonifacio
Fely Franquelli
Dalisay Delgado
Richard Loo
Maj. Hasko
Philip Ahn
Col. Coroki
Alex Havier
Sgt. Bernessa
'Ducky' Louie
Maximo Cuenca

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Edward Dmytryk
Writers: Ben Barzman, Richard H. Landau, Aeneas MacKenzie
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

81 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Edward Dmytryk, shot by Nicholas Musuraca. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Marston Fay shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

CAST

Did you know

John Wayne and Beulah Bondi and Anthony Quinn carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "SEE! Battle of Bataan! March of Death! Guerilla Raids! Fierce bolo fighters in action!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0037522 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 72 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Edward Dmytryk directs. Nicholas Musuraca behind the camera. Marston Fay cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

181 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Edward Dmytryk, shot by Nicholas Musuraca. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Editor Marston Fay shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
4John Wayne and Beulah Bondi and Anthony Quinn carry the top of the cast.
5Marketing tagline: "SEE! Battle of Bataan! March of Death! Guerilla Raids! Fierce bolo fighters in action!".
6IMDB entry: tt0037522 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 72 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
8Classified under 8 themes, including "guerrilla warfare", "world war ii", "us army", "philippines".

The technical file

Cinematography: Nicholas Musuraca
Editing: Marston Fay
Costume design: Renié
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Back to Bataan (1945)

Also by

Edward Dmytryk

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2016-01-06
★ 7/10
I send out 100 men, they find nothing. I send out ten men, they don't come back. Is it churlish to complain about overt flag waving in war movies? Or to decry propaganda prose in the same? Back to Bataan is guilty as charged, yet such is the composition of Edward Dmytryk's film, and its focus on a part of the war we rarely have seen on film, it matters not. We are in 1942, and after the fall of the Philippines to the Japanese, U.S. Army Col. Joseph Madden (John Wayne) stays behind to lead the local guerrilla resistance against the Japanese army. With that synopsis it isn't hard to figure out what sort of pic we are going to get, yet to purely consider this as a macho beefcake movie is a little unfair. Sure it's bookended by blistering action, as Duke Wayne (very restrained turn actually) and Anthony Quinn cut a swathe through the RKO sound stages, but there's lots of intelligent human interactions here to mark it as being in the least knowing of the campaign. It often grasps for the sentimental branch, while the racist barbs and portrayal of the Japanese does sting at times. But this is exciting and thoughtful stuff, boosted no end by Dmytryk's sturdy direction and Nicholas Musuraca's monochrome photography (a film noir lovers dream pairing!). Better than routine war movie. 7/10

Production companies