Look, honey! We're in the "Philippines"!
Corregidor is an ambitious production from poverty row studio PRC, telling the story of the attack of the strategic American post also known as "The Rock" by the Japanese in 1941. A lively cast keeps this one going, even though the sets are threadbare (they are passable for dimly lit trench scenes, but make scenic views look sad and hokey). Elissa Landi's beautiful smile buoys a small romantic subplot: does she love the man she just married (the always dignified Otto Kruger) or her old boyfriend, known only as "Dr Michael" (played without much magnetism by Donald Woods)? (I would have stuck with Kruger). A physician who has abandoned her career, she surprises one of her love interests by trekking thousands of miles from the US and surprising him with a proposal of marriage. The story, partially written by Edward G Ulmer, focuses on the hastily assembled, poorly equipped medical team that attends to those wounded by the surprise attack. The script throws everything at us, and isn't shy about the ugly truths of war. Corregidor is an interesting attempt to tell a current-events story and while it's no Bataan, I'll damn it with faint praise: it's not a complete stinker!
"You have her, she likes you best, Dr. Michael." "No, no, I insist, old man."
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