John Wayne War: 4 Film Favorites [2 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Four times the pleasure with this exciting film set starring one of Hollywood's greatest treasures the one, the only John Wayne! Includes They Were Expendable (Robert Montgomery, Donna Reed. 1945/135 min.), Operation Pacific (Patricia Neal, Ward Bond. 1951/110 min.), Flying Leathernecks (Robert Ryan. 1951/102 min.) and Back to Bataan (Anthony Quinn. 1945/95 min.). 2 DVDs. Color-b&w/NR/fullscreen.

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Subtitle: Eng/Fre/Spa/Por/Japanese
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Features:
  • They Were Expendable includes:
  • Full-screen version
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Languages: English & Francais
  • Subtitles: English, Francais & Espanol (Main feature only)
  • Operation Pacific includes:
  • Full-screen version
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Subtitles: English, Francais, Espanol, Portugues, Japanese, Chinese, Bahasa, Thai & Korean (Main feature only)
  • Flying Leathernecks includes: Full-screen version
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Subtitles: English, Francais & Espanol (Main feature only)
  • Back to Bataan includes:
  • Full-screen version
  • Subtitles: English, Francais & Espanol (Main feature only)

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Sound - 1945 (Douglas Shearer)
•     Nominated Best Special Effects - 1945 (Michael Steinore, Donald Jahraus, Robert MacDonald, Arnold A. Gillespie)

• New York Times

•     Won 10 Best Films - 1945

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       John Wayne - Cmdr. "Duke" Gifford
       Anthony Quinn - Capt. Andres Bonifacio
       Beulah Bondi - Miss Bertha Barnes
       Cameron Mitchell - Ens. George Cross
       Jay C. Flippen - Master Sgt. Clancy
       Lawrence Tierney - Lt. Cmdr. Waite
       Alex Havier - Sgt. Bierness
       Jack Holt - Gen. Martin
       Arthur Walsh - Seaman Jones
       Adam Williams - Lieutenant Malotke
       Jack Pennick - The Chief
       Abner Biberman - Japanese Captain at Schoolhouse
       Murray Alper - Slug Mahan
       Brett King - Lieutenant Ernie Stark
       Gordon Geberl - Tommy Kirby
       Alex Havier - Benny Lacoco, Steward
       Charles Trowbridge - Adm. Blackwell
       Robert H. Barrat - Gen. Douglas MacArthur
       Bruce Kellogg - Lt. Elder Tompkins
       Tim Murdock - Ens. Brown
       Louis Jean Heydt - Ohio, flyer in hospital
       Russell Simpson - Dad Knowland
       Vernon Steele - Army Doctor at Corregidor
       Al Bridge - Lt. Colonel

• Director:

  Nicholas Ray, John Ford, George Waggner, Edward Dmytryk

• Producer:

  Edmund Grainger, John Ford, Cliff Reid, Louis Edelman, Robert M. Fellows

• Screen Story:

  Kenneth Gamet

• Screenwriter:

  James Edward Grant, Frank Wead

• Book Author:

  William L. White

• Screenwriter:

  George Waggner, Ben Barzman, Richard Landau

• Screen Story:

  Aeneas MacKenzie, William Gordon

• Cinematographer:

  William Snyder, Joseph H. August, Bert Glennon, Nick Musuraca

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Constantin Bakaleinikoff

• Composer (Music Score):

  Roy Webb

• Songwriter:

  Earl K. Brent

• Composer (Music Score):

  Herbert Stothart

• Songwriter:

  Herbert Stothart

• Composer (Music Score):

  Max Steiner

• Editor:

  Sherman Todd, Frank E. Hull, Douglas Biggs, Alan Crosland, Jr., Marston Fay

• Art Director:

  Albert S. D'Agostino, James Sullivan, Malcolm Brown, Cedric Gibbons, Leo K. Kuter, Ralph Berger

• Associate Producer:

  Theron Warth

• Set Designer:

  Ralph S. Hurst, Edwin B. Willis, Charles Nields, Darrell Silvera

• Costume Designer:

  Renie

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Michael Steinore, Francis J. Scheid, A. Earl Wolcott

• Makeup:

  Gordon Bau

• Special Effects:

  Arnold A. Gillespie, Vernon Walker

• First Assistant Director:

  Edward O'Fearna, Ruby Rosenberg

• Technical Advisor:

  Col. George E. Clarke

REVIEW:

• A major work in the career of John Ford, They Were Expendable reflects the great director's love of the U.S. Navy and admiration of the men and women who fought the Second World War. It's a product of wartime, meant to be stirringly patriotic and occasionally saccharine. It almost qualifies as a U.S. Navy product: Star Robert Montgomery was a PT boat captain and Ford and screenwriter Frank "Spig" Wead were high-ranking Navy men. Yet They Were Expendable is nevertheless an admirably restrained and somber work, especially compared to other jingoistic films of the period. As befits its subject, the Navy's post-Pearl Harbor losses, Ford's deep-focus camerawork is an often gorgeous collection of grays and blacks. Ford had just finished an Oscar-winning documentary, Battle of Midway, when he started this movie, and it shows. Wead's script is an appealingly nuts-and-bolts look at Navy men that mostly avoids obligatory flag-waving; even the subplot romance between John Wayne's Lt. "Rusty" Ryan and Donna Reed's Lt. Sandy Davyss is un-melodramatic. Ford uses realistic Florida locations and sprinkles documentary-like close-ups throughout the film. The close-ups get somewhat precious by film's end, but they're effective. Ford blessedly leaves out his banana-peel humor, and in Montgomery has an actor who centers the movie with an interestingly lean and modulated performance despite having no backstory and almost no emotional outpourings -- he scarcely raises his voice. They Were Expendable offers glimmers of the psychological complexity that marks later Ford films like The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. It's a classic that hasn't received its proper recognition. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., Rovi