Not remembered much today but a big hit at the time; a quintessential 1950s movie in many ways, with a large budget, based on a best selling novel, a solid topic (war) spiced up a little (more frank in the sex department – its clear there is a lot of premarital rooting going on), a cast that consists of some solid old hands (Van Heflin, Raymond Massey), and some new ingénues under contract to the studio (Aldo Ray, Tab Hunter), plus some indistinguishable starlets (Mona Freeman, Anne Francis).
It has a sort of odd structure – we meet a cross section of troops who enlist in the Marines in 1942, then see them go into training. Then we concentrate on Tab Hunter and his relationship with married woman (Dorothy Malone) despite having a sweetheart (Mona Freeman) back home. Then this relationship is resolved, the troops ship out to New Zealand, where Aldo Ray has a relationship with an American-accented New Zealand widow (Nancy Olson).
A good portion of this film is set in New Zealand so Kiwis will find it fascinating (the land of the Long White Cloud also features in Sands of Iwo Jima and Until They Sail). Then it concentrates on Van Heflin leading the troops into action. A few characters are set up such as the geeky writer character (John Lupton) and they don’t seem to use him – they don’t even give the geeky writer a death scene. Tab Hunter – who isn’t much of an actor but suits the part – was meant to die but was made to live for the ending. Those Warners beefcakes of the 50s found greatest success when they were ingénues surrounded by other actors.
The film is always watchable and the franker portrayal of sex really helps it - it seems evident Hunter and Malone have sex, Ray and Olson have pre-marital sex.
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