User Reviews

Stirring WWII film, directed by John Ford, about the contributions of the Navy torpedo boat squadron to the war effort. In addition to the action and wartime heroics, there are subplots about the rivalry between Navy lieutenant Robert Montgomery and frustrated subordinate John Wayne, and a romance that blossoms between Wayne and nurse Donna Reed.

Montgomery, a gleeful ham when the role calls for it, offers one of his most subtle and successful performances as the sober squadron commander. Wayne does a great job, as well, playing a character with more layers to him than just a gung-ho war hero. His character is brave, to be sure, but he's also ambitious to rise in rank and a little petulant. Not attributes one immediately thinks of when they think John Wayne. Reed is lovely and charming as ever.

It's a little overlong, as many movies over two hours seem to be (then and especially now), but Ford makes the most of it and it never feels padded. Definitely worth a look for Ford and Wayne fans, or anyone who enjoys World War II films. It's one of the best.

They Were Expendable is John Ford's first Hollywood feature since his discharge from the U.S. Navy and the same can be said for Robert Montgomery. Both had served in the Navy and Montgomery in fact on P.T. Boats. From the last presidential election we now know them as Swift Boats.

It's an unusual John Ford film because the usual heavy comedic monkeyshines are rather subdued here. I'm thinking that John Ford wisely decided that World War II being recently over, the country's mood was joyous, but somber in terms of the heavy human cost.

They Were Expendable has the benefit though of the American audience knowing the ultimate victory. The story begins in the Phillipines in 1941 with Robert Montgomery as real life naval hero John Bulkeley, renamed Brickley for the film, trying to convince the brass of the usefulness of the P.T. Boat in combat, not just for scouting and courier duty. Of course that experiment is cut short and the P.T. Boats and their crews are rushed into some on the job experience.

During the film MacArthur, you might recall Gregory Peck saying that he was going to be evacuated from Corregidor by "one of Johnny Bulkeley's torpedo boats." That scene is dramatized as a wordless Robert Barrat plays MacArthur traveling on the boat commanded by John Wayne.

Wayne is Montgomery's second in command of the P.T. boat squadron who is not thrilled to be there. He'd like to be on at least a destroyer. He gradually comes around though. He also gets a fling in the romance department with Navy nurse Donna Reed.

During that interlude John Ford had some of the crew outside singing Dear Old Girl in a comic vein. Ford was never one to not let a good bit of business die with one film. You might remember in Fort Apache and Rio Grande there was some serenading done. And Donna Reed got serenaded on her "Hawaiian" honeymoon with James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life with Ward Bond once again being one of the serenaders. I'm sure Frank Capra would have conceded he stole that from Ford.

The story is first and foremost about some very desperate American armed forces who after Pearl Harbor were at the Japanese mercy. Pearl Harbor had totalled our Pacific fleet and no supplies could get through. Still the troops there fought on bravely, they were in fact by geography expendable.

Wayne and Montgomery give good but subdued performances. No do or die heroics here, just a sobering reminder of a terrible beginning for the Americans in the Pacific theater of World War II.

This is a memorable war film. Unlike other war films which depict glamorous battles, brutal campaigns and heroic exploits, this film focuses on average sailors who are merely doing a job. This often touching story is sandwiched around the real life escape of General and Mrs. McArthur from Corregidor at the beginning of World War II. The film does a good job portraying the collapse of American and Fillipino resistance in late 1941 and early 1942. The war is going badly, and this film does not try to sugar coat it. General Martin's character (played by Jack Holt) articulates this well at the end of the film. "The end is near here", he says.

John Wayne plays Rusty, a somewhat disgruntled officer who is unhappy about serving on a patrol torpedo (PT) boat. "Plywood dreams", he calls them in one scene. The fortunes of war intervene and Rusty and his comrades must fight the invading Japanese. Wayne's performance is memorable here, because it is uncharacteristic of his work. Wayne is not the macho heroic fighter that we see in most of his other war films. Here he is a professional sailor doing his job the best he knows how. At the end he predictably tries to be a hero, but star Robert Montgomery polites reminds him that there are other priorities. "Who are you fighting for", he asks. Wayne's character has depth. Uncharacteristically for Wayne he is even a little unsure of himself at times. This is particularly evident in his relationship with the young nurse played by Donna Reed. This is a different Wayne.

Robert Montgomery's performance as the commander of the squadron is also first rate. Like Wayne he is a professional who wants to do his job. The burden of command falls on him as he begs, cajoles and even blackmails fellow sailors to put his PT's in the war. Montgomery's performance is understated, credible and moving. It may be his best work.

This film is a collection of images. The destruction at Subic Bay in a Japanese air strike comes the closest to graphic violence of any scene in the movie. Instead of bodies, we see fires, smoke, debris and the faces of dazed servicemen and civilians. In another scene Wayne and Montgomery stand on a long dock stretching out into an empty inlet. "Are you looking for the Arizona, too," Rusty asks. The scenes depicting the escape of the McArthur's are well staged and realistic. The scenes of the defeated American army retreating on Mindanao show graphically that the war is not going well. The last image in the film with the last American plane to leave the Phillipines flying over a tropical beach at sunset is one of the most memorable in any war film. The words "I shall return" which appear on the screen are trite and unnecessary. Director John Ford has created a collage of memorable images here.

This film is slow paced for a war film, but it works. There is sufficient action, but there are interludes of peace and tranquility. There is a candlelight dinner for Rusty and his girl. There are a few moments near the end in a bar. In another scene Wayne visits with an elderly shipwright. The journey with the McArthurs provides another appropriate interlude in the middle of the film. There are even light moments interspersed. In one of these Marshal Thompson is inspecting the galley and asks derisively "What kind of soup is this?" When told it's not soup but dishwater he goes quickly to his next stop.

This is a simple story of fighting men doing a job that isn't considered particularly important. John Ford's excellent direction turns these mundane moments into one of the most memorable war films ever. Star Robert Montgomery even had a chance to direct in this film when Ford was injured in a fall. I liked this film and would recommend it without reservations.

One reveiwer critices this film about lack of action he misses the point,all the characters are well developed which makes the ending so painfull. The acting is first rate every part is played with a great belief,,there are so many great scenes that touch the heart.The men are bonded together by their actions and when the bonds are broken through death or orders it hurts us all. Donna Reed is gorgeous to look at ,only a small role but well acted. At the end of the film you feel a lump in your throat and a tear forms in your eye,I love this movie.9/10

Wayne and Ford at their peak.

Somehow I missed this film until a few years ago on a cable movie channel. Growing up with WWII as the dominant theme of modern history and an appreciation of the older film stars, this film is without question the most realistic in terms of the message and of just passed events with superb performances in the old morality style of the 40's.

The old Navy, surviving in the Asiatic backwater where promotions could take years, bears the brunt of the onslaught of total war for America. A heroic tragedy of holding the line to bide time for the Nation to recover.

A story for all time, the greatest war movie of all time. No matter how large the budget and digital special effects, they will never capture the texture and feel of this film. The dying of the old Navy from Yangtze to Cavite with gutsy sailors like "Boats" living hard in the backwater paradise of the Pacific on $20 a month.

The tragedy of continuing defeat, overwhelming catastrophic events, the ill prepared Nation, the dying of the old Navy, all combine to make this film, made with event still fresh in the actors and film makers minds, a statement of that war and of the heroes which the audience knew first hand. It says, we knew these men and boys and they were as fine a heroes this country has ever produced and they will live larger than life for as long as this film exists.

"They Were Expendable" may not be as famous as some other WW II sagas, but it is for the most part, an honest attempt to examine the relationships of a crew as they go thru the experience of facing losses during the war. It is to their credit that vets Ford, Montgomery, et. al. decided to depict a part of the war where it was difficult to remain positive, where you were forced to leave members of your crew behind to face the uncertainties of meeting up with the enemy.

Yes, there are times when Ford lays it on a little thick, and his use of "Anchors Aweigh", "Halls of Montezuma" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic" are a little too much, but these are minor flaws. In the end you have an honest examination of the war, as told by the men who actually fought in the war (if I'm not mistaken, Montgomery actually was assigned to PT boat duty during the war).

The performances are all first rate. Robert Montgomery, who admittedly has never been one of my favorite actors, does a wonderful job as Brickley, the leader trying to find a way for his crew to make an impact on the war. John Wayne is marvelous as "Rusty" Ryan, second to Brickley, and leave his own mark on the war.

Most everything about this picture is terrific. The only problem I had with this movie was what another user commented on it. It's really two movies in one. I found the more personal side of the war, the part dealing with the hospital and relationship between Wayne and Montgomery more rewarding than the action sequences (which were all first-rate). I wanted to see more of this, because I felt that with Ford at the helm, this would be more unusual for him to explore, and therefore more interesting. I therefore felt that the movie, overall, was too long in telling it's story.

In the end you have a very satisfying, refreshingly honest account of an unpleasant period during WW II.

7 out of 10

I have very strong feelings about this film. As a baby boomer, I have always felt that mine and future generations owe an eternal debt to those who didn't come back.

One way of acknowledging this debt is the way we watch war films, not as bloody spectacles but as tributes and reminders.

And what kind of tribute and reminder is "They Were Expendable"? Consider the rueful irony of the title. Such a sentiment is quite uncharacteristic of director John Ford's other work, especially his westerns (possibly excepting "Fort Apache"), which border on jingoism. Yes, there's a scene that's pretty hard to take: When the boats are detailed to take MacArthur out of harm's way, Ford tries to make out like they're rescuing Lincoln, complete with "Battle Hymn of the Republic" soundtrack. Today we know MacArthur as an overrated blow-hard, but 1945 was too early to see past the hype. And yes, there's some of the usual Ford corn-ball and the familiar Ford players, with John Wayne and Ward Bond doing their thing. But then, there's the great Robert Montgomery, who did active duty (unlike Wayne), and I truly believe he was playing this film, both as actor and co-director, straight from the heart. You can see it in a scene in which he realizes his duty means his death. Much of that scene is shot in shadow, but paradoxically the darkness serves to enhance Montgomery's underplayed emotions. The emotions are similar when Montgomery and Wayne are later confronted with an order that saves their lives but dooms their men.

Implicit in the belief that war is sometimes necessary is the inevitability of some of the most excruciating moral dilemmas imaginable. And when I see these dilemmas imposed on men and women, boys and girls, demanding their lives in payment for their sacred honor, I'm humbled beyond words.

Life magazine used to do huge layouts of kids killed in World War II combat. When I look at these faces and think of the words "They Were Expendable," I . . .

Watching this movie in February, 2006, my first thought is how was this movie was received in 1945 vs now. It's hard to believe that Hollywood would make such a patriotic movie about what was essentially an embarrassing defeat for the USA. The armed forces between WWI and 1941 were allowed to whither away their effectiveness to the point that Roosevelt had no choice but to sacrifice the troops in the Philipines. Today, there would be calls for the impeachment of a president.

The men on the PT boats remind me of Bogart in The Caine Mutiny - men willing to join the services before Pearl Harbor for low pay and little respect. They were willing to serve because they knew freedom isn't free.

It's also interesting how MacArthur is portrayed. Before he left for Australia hew was referred to as Dugout Doug because he only went to the front 1 time. He also was criticized for not using his air corps to attack the Japanese before they reached the Phillipines. But by August, 1945 he had the led the Allies to Tokyo Bay for the surrender on the deck of the Missouri. Could Ford have made this movie in 1942 before Mac started his island hopping to Japan?

Not the most exciting movie - especially for a war flick, but an interesting look at soldiers who got their orders and filled them to the best of their abilities - and often to their last breath.

This movie is so exceptionally well-written, acted and directed. Although I am a big fan of some of John Wayne's other war pictures such as The Flying Tigers and The Fighting Sea Bees, these films are not exactly realistic and make it look like Wayne and his friends could have almost single-handedly beaten the Japanese! But, with They Were Expendible, the over-the-top heroism and exploits are instead replaced with grim determination against the odds and a quiet dignity. Because of that, to me, the impact of this film was much more lasting and heart-felt. Realism is key to this picture.

Oh, and by the way, Robert Montgomery gets top billing because when the film was made he was the bigger star--Wayne's rise to the top in Hollywood was still to come. I really see this more as Wayne's film as his part seemed BIGGER and he seemed to get at least as much screen time as Montgomery.

This would be an excellent film for teens, as it focuses on glory and heroism without glorifying death or trivializing our sacrifices.

Released at the end of World War II, with the ink on the final surrender documents still fresh, "They Were Expendable" is a rousing yet sobering look back when American service personnel faced total defeat at enemy hands. It's not a question of "if" for them, just "when," and this is director John Ford's way of paying tribute.

We open in December, 1941, as Lt. John Brickley (Robert Montgomery) is trying to make his superiors see the value of the squadron of PT- boats he commands, presently stationed on Cavite in the Philippines. The brass is not impressed, but then the Japanese begin their offensive and Brickley and his men are put to the test. Can these "high-powered canoes" be counted on to help turn the tide of Japanese cruisers and destroyers?

Not really, not for long.

Surprisingly for a film made while the war in the Pacific still raged, there is an overall tone of resignation bordering on despair, beginning with the title. A lot of things turn out expendable in this movie, not just the PT-boats and the rest of the American forces in the Philippines, but comradeships formed within the squadron, too. Brickley's second-in-command Rusty Ryan (John Wayne) even has to shed a promising romance with nurse Sandy Davyss (Donna Reed) as the exigencies of war take precedence.

The message of "do-and-die" is presented early by Brickley's commander: "You and I are professionals. If the manager says sacrifice, we lay down a bunt and let somebody else hit the home runs."

Wayne is the reason people watch "Expendable," but Montgomery is why it sticks. A combat veteran just back from the war, he keeps it real with a low-key performance. There's no shouting when he issues commands, just firm authority. No longer the pretty boy of 1930s cinema, Montgomery is haggard-looking here, with bags under his eyes, a five-'o-clock shadow, and a noticeable paunch. He's not trying to impress anyone, which is why he is so impressive.

"Who are you working for?" is something he asks Rusty at key moments in the beginning and at the end of the film. This is the moral of the picture, reminding us of the sacrifice being laid.

For Ford and screenwriter Frank "Spig" Wead, that sacrifice takes precedence over story. "They Were Expendable" is an episodic, sometimes rambling affair, with more than a bit of hyperbole about what the PT-boats accomplished. Much time is taken up with the squadron's part in the evacuation of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, whom Ford treats as such a holy thing he is never referred to by name. He's simply called "certain key personnel" and draws admiring stares from all. It's understandable given MacArthur's credited role in turning the war, but it does grate.

The pathos is deep, but never overwhelming. A deathbed scene between Brickley and one of his officers, whom we earlier see being introduced to the rest the squadron on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack, is a masterful study of actorly control by both Montgomery and Paul Langton. Several key players in the Ford acting troupe have standout scenes, and with Ford manage to incorporate needed doses of humor in small but strategic ways.

I really like Wayne in this movie; already a star, we see him here beginning to emerge as an actor, whether grousing about PT-duty early on, making a hash of an attempt at telling Sandy he loves her on a bad telephone connection, or reciting verse over two dead comrades. While Montgomery sets the tone of the film, Wayne provides the crucial backbone for it to work.

In a way, the great strength of "They Were Expendable" is also a weakness; that it was made when the subject was not only fresh but still an open wound. It was hard for Ford and his cast to be as objective and detached from the matter as great art often is, to find a way of dealing with the hard truth that the fight for the Philippines was not just a defeat but a useless one where PT-boats proved of minimal help. All the talk of duty gets frustrating when one thinks of the overwhelming futility behind it.

"They Were Expendable" best works as a requiem, speaking of loss and man's hope for nobility in the face of same. It reminds us of whatever bad turns fate has in store for us, we need to be strong and face them out with determination, not necessarily because it will do any good but because it is the best we can do.

Rather than re-hash Tom Martin's excellent review of the film, I would rather provide some personal reflections.

This really is the most human of all the late-era WWII films, minus much of the blatantly propagandistic speeches that mar so many movies from that era. Rather, the dialogue is beautifully understated. Robert Montgomery's "looking for the Arizona too" comment to Wayne sums up the feelings of its time much more than a five minute speech on how important it is to win the war could ever do.

The cinematography is top notch, as it is in most of Ford's films. Watching this I believe we can definately see how Orson Welles would be influenced by his work over the years.

Robert Montgomery's work here is fantastic; again, as Martin states in his review, probably his best work in front of the camera. He seems war-weary (and in one of the Duke's biographies this is probably how Montgomery really was at this time, as he had seen quite a bit of action during the war before the film was made). John Wayne's character provides us with proof that he truly was a great actor. Watch the scene where he sits in a bar listening to a broadcast from San Francisco about the fall of Coregidor; his emotions are completely shown by the camera; no "let's get them dirty so-and-so's" speeches here, this is pure, wordless acting.

All in all, a great film; the best of the WWII era, and certainly one of the best of the 1940's. No hesitations here on my score: 10* out of 10.

This is a movie i have started to love over time. What makes it fascinating for me is, that it does not tell again the heroic victories, but the early defeat the USA suffered, when it was hit left-footed by the Japanese attacks. This is a story about actually expendable small PT-Boots trying to slow down the Japanese advance on the Philippines without much of a success. Strong action on sea interwoven with a love story and very good character development by Robert Montgomery and John Wayne, accompanied by the then awfully young Cameron Mitchell and Marshal "Daktari" Thompson. And along is a whole crew of John Fords character stock, lead by Ward Bond. And above all is the Glory in Defeat, that is epitomized by the old shipyard owner, who refuses to leave his home even in the face of certain death by the advancing Japanese. The Love story is, to some extent, redundant, but that goes with it. Black and White, sometimes with continuity lost or hard to track, but nevertheless a timeless epic. 7/10.

This is one of John Ford's best. There is a factoid circulating that this film, released in 1945 when we were about to end the war, was a flop because no one wanted to hear about a defeat in the Philippines, but Tad Gallagher's research shows this not to be true. It was a success, and for good reason.

It's got about everything you'd expect in a war movie released during that year, and it's finely done. Beginning with the photography and location shooting, in which Florida provides a first-rate substitute for the Philippines. No bravura acting is apparent, and none is called for. Montgomery is stolid as the squadron commander. Wayne, as his exec, follows orders competently and even is rather moving when he recites Robert Louis Stevenson's epitaph during a funeral scene, foreshadowing his famous scene when he's given the gold watch in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon." Marshall Thompson plays an inexperienced new man, not for the last time. Ward Bond is a hearty boatswain's mate. Donna Reed, looking enchanting, is Wayne's aborted love interest. She doesn't have much screen time, but good use is made of what she has, and after all, it's hard to bang a full-blown romance into this kind of film.

It's pretty downbeat for Ford, when you come right down to it. One after another the "cardboard boxes" that, along with a handful of submarines, constituted MacArthur's navy are lost. Blown-up, wrecked, requisitioned by the Army, or just disappeared. The editing is fine too. Wayne's 34 boat is strafed and damaged by Japanese airplanes and he manages to beach it in a deserted area. He and his men struggle ashore through the surf. The planes return and they bomb it and strafe it until it erupts in flame, sending a geyser of seawater into the air. As Wayne emerges from cover there is a shot of him staring bleakly at his burning boat, then the seawater cascades over his figure forming a black-and-white rainbow as it does so. The eruption of water and its finally falling on Wayne's figure couldn't have been better times if a stopwatch had been used, a fine example of technical expertise.

Made as it was during the war years, it couldn't be more realistic than it is. Sometimes this is a weakness, due not to Ford and his crew but to the strictures of the time. The MTBs were glamorous duty. They were developed during WWI, when ships were mainly designed to be big enough to outshoot other big ships, and torpedoes hadn't proved themselves. Well, they did during the first war, delivered by torpedo boats that were small and fast and could duck under the big guns to deliver their weapons. (The destroyer was originally meant to be a "torpedo boat destroyer.") In WWII they served in every theater and were valuable assets. But they weren't suitable for blue-water work and were mostly used in sheltered waters. "They Were Expendable" shows them attacking under fire at high speed, in some very exciting shots. In real life, as Richard Tregaskis has reported, the engines delivered about 40 knots when new -- fast, but not that fast. A bit faster than a new destroyer, about the same speed as a torpedo. But under conditions in which maintenance was difficult or impossible, as they were here, the efficiency of the engines dropped and so did the boat's speed. The usual technique was not to attack at full speed with flags flying, but to sneak up as quietly as possible on an enemy ship, launch the torpedoes, then get out quickly. Also the torpedoes malfunctioned frequently, and the launching mechanism used gunpowder which flashed when ignited and revealed the boat's position. By the end of the war the boats had reverted to a more primitive system in which the weapons were simply dumped overboard. But that has nothing to do with the movie except that these observations reveal the major action scenes to be what Gallagher calls a boy's matinee program. It didn't happen that way.

Nevertheless, this is an honest movie. We lose, although we've done the best we can. And one of our boys can't kill a dozen of their boys. And you can tell Ford is behind the camera. Lots of booze. A reverence for authority. (MacArthur, whom his biographer, William Manchester, called "a remarkable man", is seen only from a distance, kind of like a spiritual vision seen in the clouds. MacArthur's complexity couldn't be dealt with, and shouldn't have been.)

It's a well-done film, thoughtful and exciting. The enemy aren't referred to as Nips, nobody calls them names or tries to explain their motives. Hemingway may have enjoyed it if he ever saw it because it is a very nice illustration of "grace under pressure." See it if you can.

One of my earliest recollections of late night TV as a child was of boats speeding across the water with guns blazing and explosions going off all around them. I was mesmerized by how real everything looked even though it was in black and white. For reasons I didn't understand at the time, I saw those scenes several times as a small child. Obviously, my father enjoyed the movie! Didn't know who was in the movie, just knew I liked the big tall guy with the baseball cap. LOL Years later my father spoke of the movie as one of his favorites, and one Saturday night while up late working on model airplanes or ships, They Were Expendable came on and I realized that the guy in the baseball cap was my favorite actor John Wayne. A movie without all the patriotic jingoism of the day, just real people fighting a losing battle and, like Douglas MacArthur, hoping to "return" one day to fight again. Decades later a friend gave me a 2nd or 3rd edition hardbound copy of the book the movie was based on, a story of real people and real events, and I found that John Ford did the book proud. As I've gotten older and wiser, this movie has gotten better and better, with those special effects explosions still amazing me after all these years.

After studying "They Were Expendable" in a film class, I understand and respect what John Ford was trying to do in this film. Here is a World War II movie that is subtle rather than bombastic, quietly rather than forcefully patriotic. The enemy is not presented as evil or cartoonish. In fact, Japanese soldiers are never even shown, though you do get to see Japanese planes and ships in some beautifully orchestrated and filmed battle scenes.

But my initial reaction to "They Were Expendable", before I was forced to think this long and hard about it, was one of boredom. The plot is episodic and sometimes hard to follow, a function of Ford's restrained approach to film-making. A 1945 audience, familiar with the story of what happened in the Philippines, would have understood exactly what Ford was getting at, but for a modern viewer, it's more difficult. For instance, during a sequence featuring General MacArthur, no one ever says "MacArthur", which confused me on my first viewing.

The characters in "They Were Expendable" are not particularly interesting, and many of the minor characters lack definition. Even the heroes, Lieutenant Brickley (Robert Montgomery) and his friend Rusty (John Wayne), have rudimentary personalities. Brickley is wise, responsible, and does his best to please both his commanders and his subordinates; Rusty is a frustrated young man, impatient for glory. Though both men undergo a few internal conflicts, their behavior is always predictable.

"They Were Expendable" chronicles one of the worst defeats in U.S. military history, the fall of the Philippines early in World War II. But while the film's tone is slow and somber, it never delivers the sense of utter tragedy and loss that this story deserves. In 1945, John Ford could make a war movie that was understated and allusive, knowing that his audience would fill in the blanks. Sixty years later, this film has lost much of its power, and its shortcomings in the areas of plot, character, and mood are now apparent.

The best war films pull no punches. They also make the point that -- irrespective of natural sentiment and political bias -- war is by nature an aberration, lacking any rational basis for justifying its recurrence through the centuries. War is essentially uncivilized, and can be excused only when a disputant being attacked can define a clear and present danger against which no alternative obtains.

Lesser war films tend to extol the virtues of war, glamorize heroism in battle, play on the viewer's emotions, blow things up for the sake of thrills, exaggerate false sentiment, betray a jingoist point of view, and most reprehensible of all cloak themselves in Orwellian speeches that seek to manipulate an unwitting audience into action.

This film is simply one of the best of the best. Except for one or two sequences it relies on believable, non-heroic characters involved in acts of concentrated heroism under the most stressful and suspenseful conditions imaginable. Its tone is that of having been filmed in actual wartime using many actors who themselves were recent combatants. Yet it covers a full range of cinematic possibilities, from a sensitive script to an excellent musical score.

I will not dwell on all the aspects of authentic, almost documentary, elements in this film. I spent the war on the home front, and thus do not know of all the technically correct parts that others here have commented on. My own recollection was that most of the ordinary joes were always referring to Douglas MacArthur as "Dugout Doug," a derogatory swipe at his flight to Australia and reluctance to go on the offensive for some time thereafter.

Like other great war films such as All Quiet on the Western Front and Paths of Glory, this one takes its place right up there.

I am "not" a John Wayne fan. But I do like John Ford films and that is the only reason I like this film. Thankfully Robert Montgomery is the star and not the Duke. This brilliant and realistic, as much could be by 1946 standards, portrayal of the PT Boat service in the Pacific theatre of War is one of a very few and probable the best especially filmed in gorgeous B&W. Yes it suffers from the usual Hollywood "check list" of things to stuff into a film, like a romance, etc. but the battle scenes and portrayal of everyday naval life in this branch of the service is not only interesting as a film but important as historical preservation since even in its production period of 1945, finding several actual working PT boats was a miracle indeed, even though most if not all did not see any real combat service only a year after the war ended. Most were destroyed before this film was even an idea in the directors head. Unfortunately this film was poorly received upon its original release, having a much too sombre non uplifting ending like all good Hollywood films "should" have. But now we have a better film because of it and the loss of 1946 audiences is truly our gain.

Most of the reviews I've read seem to miss the point of this poignant, moving story. With respect to the film itself, it is well acted, brilliantly directed, and the B&W cinematography conveys the grittiness of the subject matter. To gain a better appreciation of the true story of MTB Squadron 3, read William L. White's magnificent book (same title). Lt. John Brickley = Lt. (later Admiral) John Bulkeley; Lt. Rusty Ryan = Lt. Robert Kelly; Ens. Tony Aiken = Ens. Anthony Akers; Ens. George Cross = Ens. George Cox. These were REAL people! I don't understand why John Ford didn't use their real names. Basically, these servicemen & women were on the Titanic with all the lifeboats gone, and they knew it. There was no relief coming; the prospect of capture by the Japanese was, perhaps, worse than death; these people knew what the Japanese had done to captives in China and Southeast Asia. This is the story of remarkable grace and bravery under the worst possible conditions. Perhaps only the story of the siege of Wake Island (Dec. 7-23, 1941) rivals it for pure, true drama (too bad the movie about that one was all propaganda).

Lt. Rusty Ryan (John Wayne) is a veteran skipper of a PT boat in the Philipines and Lt. John Brickley (Robert Montgomery) is an eager young skipper of the group. Suddenly, Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese. The squad's base is next and the survivors struggle to fight off the invading Japanese forces. They are forced back to Bataan and beyond.

Honestly, I assumed PT boats were first introduced after Pearl Harbor but I guess there was a large buildup even before then. It makes sense that war production would ramp up after the outbreak of WWII and that PT boats would be part of that. This is an old fashion war film made in the depths of the war in the Pacific and released a few months after Japan's surrender. The tone is old melodrama of the highest order. The action is surprisingly good with some real boats and planes. Obviously, they got their hands on a few boats to film this for the war effort. Sure, there is plenty of projection backdrop work but the action still looks great. The romance does slow down the movie in the middle but it's expected from that era. This is solid war action from that era and the explosive boat footage is thrilling.

In the Year of Our Lord 1941, Lieutenant Robert Montgomery (as John "Brick" Brickley) mans a torpedo boat. He helps defend the Philippines from Japan, and is summoned to the Hawaiian islands after the Japanese attack the US base there, at Pearl Harbor. Junior grade Lieutenant John Wayne (as "Rusty" Ryan) is the most valuable player in Mr. Montgomery's crew. When a mishap lands Mr. Wayne in the hospital, he bides time with attractive nurse Donna Reed (as Sandy Davyss). Then, it's back to the Pacific...

Montgomery and director John Ford had just returned from serving in the war, and are credited with their "U.S.N.R." (United States Navy Reserve) military title. Wayne conspicuously receives no military title; surprisingly, he wasn't a World War II fighter. "They Were Expendable" refers to the many who lost their lives fighting the Axis Japanese during WW II. Mr. Ford's film is respectful, reverent, and relatively realistic - but not very engrossing. Ms. Reed contributes an especially impressive dramatic performance.

***** They Were Expendable (12/19/45) John Ford ~ Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, Donna Reed, Marshall Thompson