Movie review – “Corregidor” (1943) **

The story of this siege and battle is one of the great American epics of the war – they didn’t make that many films about it, because Americans don’t like to concentrate on defeat, but there was a period when stories about defeat were the only contemporary tales they ould tell: Air Force, Wake Island, Bataan, So Proudly We Hail, Cry Havoc. 

Corregidor was a moving story in real life - or, rather, a thousand moving stories, and the fact a lot of the people spent much of their time in cramped bunkers and dug outs meant it was ideal for low budget treatment from PRC. But this is a very mediocre film, despite some decent actors and Edgar Ulmer as one of the writers (but not a director).

The main story is a love triangle between three doctors - one of whom is, surprisingly, a woman (Elissa Landi, who in the 30s looked as though she might be a star; she died of cancer not long after this, her last film). She marries an old pal (Otto Kruger) despite being in love with a young spunk (Donald Woods) who dumped her back in the day because she was too rich. But guess who is working at Corregidor? 

There's some rallying speeches and explosions, plus the odd Filipino character is actually given some screen time and Dorothy Dandridge's mother plays a maid. But on the whole this is dull stuff and a waste of an amazing story.