'Gung Ho!': The Story of Carlson's Makin Island Raiders

This film, made in 1943, doesn't even try to hide its purpose. It's propaganda, pure and simple. Several scenes are shot and narrated in a documentary type of mode. The film was shot only months after the actual events took place. Randolph Scott was a good actor, but they threw this together so quickly that he didn't have time to do a decent job. Young (and I mean YOUNG) Robert Mitchum is the best actor in the film and he isn't nearly up to his usual standards. The story is good, and I believe that, given the language constraints of 1943, the film is as well written as it could be. The battle sequences are fair. There's a good bit of obvious choreography in the hand-to-hand scenes. Overall, judged against other films of its type, this one isn't too awful bad.