Salute to the Marines
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| Salute to the Marines | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | S. Sylvan Simon |
| Written by | George Bruce |
| Produced by | John W. Considine Jr. |
| Starring | Wallace Beery |
| Cinematography | Charles Schoenbaum W. Howard Greene |
| Edited by | Fredrick Y. Smith |
| Music by | Lennie Hayton |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
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Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Salute to the Marines is a 1943 World War II war film drama in Technicolor from MGM, produced by John W. Considine Jr., directed by S. Sylvan Simon, and starring Wallace Beery. The film co-stars Fay Bainter, Reginald Owen, Ray Collins, Keye Luke, and Marilyn Maxwell. Beery's older brother Noah Beery, Sr. also appears in the film, which is set in the Philippines just prior to the beginning of the Pacific War.
Having been stationed in the Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines as a member of the United States Marine Corps, NCO Sgt. Maj. William Bailey (Beery) is retired after having served there for 30 years. This happens several months prior to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and their laying siege to large areas of the South Pacific.
When the Japanese invade the Philippines, Bailey confronts and strangles a Nazi secret agent, who is now spreading anti-American, pro-Japanese propaganda among the native Filipinos. The spy had posed as a religious pacifist up until a devastating Japanese air bombing attack caused many casualties among the unarmed civilians that Bailey, his wife, and daughter (Maxwell) had been living among.
Bailey then takes command of the local Filipino militia that he had earlier trained just prior to his retirement from the Corps. They fight a series of delaying actions against a Japanese ground invasion force, slowing their attack, while waiting for the U.S. Marine island forces to arrive and counter-attack.
Later, after much fighting, while wearing his one time "dress blues" uniform jacket, Bailey takes out an enemy machine gun emplacement while Marine forces blow up a vital bridge, halting the Japanese ground advance. Sgt. Major Bailey is suddenly killed by an aerial bombing attack shortly after his heroic delaying actions have succeeded. The Japanese eventually go on to capture the Philippines.
Sometime later, at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, CA, Sgt. Major Bailey is posthumously awarded, by his former commander in the Philippines, the corps' highest medal for valor. His daughter, now a Marine sergeant, gratefully accepts the medal for her late father, as the entire base's assembled corps passes in review.
Cast
- Wallace Beery as Sgt. Maj. William Bailey
- Fay Bainter as Jenny Bailey
- Reginald Owen as Henry Caspar
- Ray Collins as Col. John Mason
- Keye Luke as Flashy Logaz
- Marilyn Maxwell as Helen Bailey
- William Lundigan as Rufus Cleveland
- Donald Curtis as Randall James
- Noah Beery, Sr. as Adjutant
- Dick Curtis as Cpl. Moseley
- Russell Gleason as Pvt. Hanks
- Rose Hobart as Mrs. Carson
- Hugh Beaumont as Sergeant (uncredited)
- Robert Blake as Junior Carson (uncredited)
- Jim Davis as Pvt. Saunders (uncredited)
- Chester Gan as Japanese Officer