GUADALCANAL DIARY
DIRECTED BY LEWIS SEILER
PRODUCED BY ISLIN AUSTER/ BRYAN FOY
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION
Information from IMDb
Plot Summary
Concentrating on the personal lives of those involved,
a war correspondent takes us through the preparations,
landing and initial campaign on Guadalcanal during WWII.
Written by Doug Sederberg
Full Cast
Preston Foster ... Father Donnelly
Lloyd Nolan ... Sgt. Hook Malone
William Bendix ... Corp. Taxi Potts
Richard Conte ... Capt. Davis
Anthony Quinn ... Jesus ('Soose') Alvarez
Richard Jaeckel ... Pvt. Johnny ('Chicken') Anderson
Roy Roberts ... Capt. James Cross
Minor Watson ... Col. Wallace E. Grayson
Ralph Byrd ... Ned Rowman
Lionel Stander ... Sgt. Butch
Reed Hadley ... War correspondent / Narrator
John Archer ... Lt. Thurmond
Eddie Acuff ... Pvt. Tex Mcllvoy (uncredited)
Warren Ashe ... Col. Morton (uncredited)
Martin Black ... Marine (uncredited)
Marion Carl ... Marine Pilot (uncredited)
Harry Carter ... Dispatch Officer (uncredited)
Tom Dawson ... Captain (uncredited)
Jason Evers ... Bit Role (uncredited)
Walter Fenner ... Col. Roper (uncredited)
Robert Ford ... Marine (uncredited)
Paul Fung ... Japanese Prisoner (uncredited)
Fred Graham ... Marine Listening to Baseball Game on Radio (uncredited)
Louis Hart ... Lieutenant (uncredited)
George Holmes ... Marine (uncredited)
Russell Hoyt ... Marine (uncredited)
Selmer Jackson ... Col. Thompson (uncredited)
Allen Jung ... Japanese Officer (uncredited)
Charles Lang ... Marine (uncredited)
Jack Luden ... Major (uncredited)
Miles Mander ... Weatherby (uncredited)
David Peters ... Marine (uncredited)
Bob Rose ... Sammy Kline (uncredited)
Larry Thompson ... Chaplain (uncredited)
Writing Credits
Lamar Trotti (screenplay)
Jerome Cady (adaptation) (as Jerry Cady)
Richard Tregaskis (book)
Produced
Islin Auster .... associate producer
Bryan Foy .... producer
Original Music
David Buttolph
Cinematography
Charles G. Clarke
Trivia
Marine Corps Capt. Marion Carl, a multi-ace (18.5 air victories), makes an appearance as a Marine Corps pilot. Capt. Carl wears his baseball cap with the bill pointed skyward and makes the comment, "Don't look now, fellas, but a truck of gas just came on the field." Capt. Carl was a survivor of the Battle of Midway and the air campaign for Guadalcanal in 1942. He was awarded 2 Navy Crosses for his actions at Midway and Guadalcanal. Sadly, on June 28, 1998, he was murdered in his Oregon home by a home intruder.
Movie accurately shows the Marines armed with bolt action rifles. While Garand rifles were available, they were just not available in numbers to issue to the Marines before setting sail.
Roy Roberts, who plays Capt. Cross, seems to have doubled as the voice of the radio sportscaster.
In 1950, 20th Century Fox theatrically reissued this film on a bill with Belle Starr and The Purple Heart.
Debut movie of Richard Jaeckel who was seventeen years of age at the time. Apparently, Jaeckel had been a messenger boy for the 20th Century-Fox studio when he was cast in the film.
According to the book 'The Films of World War II' by Joe Morella, Edward Z. Epstein and John Griggs, the film "...involved some varying of actual incidents for the sake of dramatic effect."
This movie was made in 1943, only one year after the Battle of Guadacanal, which was fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943. The film premiered in the USA around 27 October 1943 which was about ten months after the end of the Guadacanal Campaign.
Guadalcanal is situated in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. Its local name is Isatabu and contains the country's capital, Honiara. The island is humid and mostly made up of jungle with a surface area of 2,510 square miles or 6,500-km². Guadacanal was named after Pedro de Ortega's home town Guadacanal in Andalusia, Spain. de Ortega worked under Álvaro de Mendaña who charted the island in 1568.
This movie's opening prologue states: ""Appreciation is gratefully acknowledged to the United States Marine Corps and to the Army, the Navy and the Coast Guard whose assistance and participation made this picture possible."
Captain Clarence Martin who who fought with the first detachment of Marines at Guadalcanal acted as a technical adviser on this movie.
The Hollywood Premiere of this movie was a charity benefit to aid various War Charities with the 60-piece Pendleton Field Marine Band performing at the bash. According to the 'Hollywood Reporter', the launch was attended by "top-ranking officers of the Marines, Army and Navy . . . and about fifty war heroes."
This film was the first time that actor Richard Conte was credited as Richard Conte. This was his second feature film. In his first, Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence, he had been billed as Nicholas Conte.
The Philadelphia Premiere for this movie was dedicated to celebrating the 168th Anniversary of the inception of the United States Marine Corps.
The stars of this movie, William Bendix, Preston Foster, Richard Jaeckel and Lloyd Nolan all reprised their characters from this movie in a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on 28 February 1944.
William Bendix once told the 'Saturday Evening Post''s "The Role I Liked Best" column in 1946 that his character of Corporal Aloysius T. 'Taxi' Potts was his favorite of parts as it had given him "the widest range of opportunity" for an actor. Moreover, Bendix stated that he was moved by the letters he had received from military personnel who recognized his gutsy performance as a soldier in this movie. Bendix also added that he and his fellow cast enjoyed the experience of working with the US Marines based at Camp Pendleton.
The 'Daily Variety' of 28 August 1945 reported that the 20th Century Fox Studio was involved with litigation from Donald Petersen in relation to injuries that he allegedly sustained during production of this movie. It was alleged that Petersen suffered broken ear drums from a dynamite explosion that was exploded prematurely. Petersen was awarded $15,000 in damages in a jury trial which was then appealed by the studio.
Goofs
Factual errors: Japanese snipers tied them selves into their positions. They did not fall out of the trees when shot.
Factual errors: One of the Japanese soldiers is carrying a US Krag rifle from 1892.
Revealing mistakes: In several scenes, Japanese solders are seen firing U.S. made and issued Thompson .45 caliber Sub-machine guns, identical to the one carried by the Sgt. played by Lloyd Nolan. In one scene, a Japanese machine gun nest is firing a Thompson mounted on a tripod to make it appear as a light machine gun.
Filming Locations
Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, Oceanside, California, USA
Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, California, USA
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