Pride of the Marines (1945)

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's never a promising sign when you find yourself checking the time to see how much of the film is left to go. I did that with this one, only 32 minutes in....which means I still had 90 minutes more of this train wreck. And believe me, at times it is a train wreck. Those reviewers on here giving this 8, 9 or 10 stars could use some introspection.What am I talking about? Well let's see...in the first 30 minutes, we watch the "hero," Al Schmid, kiss a preteen girl on the lips (his best-friend's daughter), then tell her that in 5-6 years he will marry her. If I did that to my best friend's daughter he would punch my lights out (and rightly so) before calling the police and reporting me for being a child predator. Then, Al is set up on a blind date with a woman named Ruth, apparently against his will, so his way of dealing with the situation is to attempt to loudly belittle and disparage his date in a bowling alley for all to hear. Quite mature for our hero, wouldn't you say? The next day he realizes the error of his ways....so he decides to make it up to her. How? By confronting her at a public bus stop and telling everyone present that she has abandoned their boy and is seemingly guilty of child negligence. Never mind the fact that they are not a couple and there is no child, he is making the whole thing up to shame her in front of a group of strangers. What an honorable guy, this Al. But she inexplicably gets in his car, anyway, instead of telling him to get lost, and he proceeds to drive her home. When he learns there is another man waiting at home to take her out on a date, he purposely crashes his car into the other man's in a fit of rage, anger and/or jealousy. And quite laughably, shortly after this incident Ruth decides "wow this is the guy for me!" It was at this point I looked at the time because I was saying to myself "how much more of this nonsense can I take?" Keep in mind you as the viewer are supposed to look upon the actions of Al as commendable - he is the subject of the film - the "Pride of the Marines." So the protagonist - our hero - is an ill-tempered, pompous, creepy, impulsive liar. And you are supposed to be sympathetic towards him...it is that bad.Not helping matters is the misleading title. Of the two-hour running time, only about 20 minutes concerns Al's active duty in the Marines. The rest is spent either establishing his "courtship" of Ruth (cough cough) or the bitterness he feels after suffering injuries in battle (about an hour and the bulk of the film). In between there is one action sequence set in Guadalcanal from which the film gets its title (I suppose). So dispel the notion that this is a war film or an action film, it is largely neither. It's a rather shoddy attempt to engender pride and rouse patriotic fervor, as this was produced in the latter stages of World War II. However, the callous and indifferent way Al treats other people, especially those close to him, both before and after that battle sequence is actually quite despicable and not worthy of anyone's pride. This film is based on a real person named Al Schmid. I can only hope the real Al wasn't as much of a cad as the one portrayed here. Ouch.

I concur with a review by AtlasMB on "Pride of the Marines". This is an inspiring true story of Marine Al Schmid who heroically battled the Japanese on Guadalcanal, winning the Navy Cross but losing his eyesight in the process. The film covers his blue collar roots in Philadelphia, his sort-of courtship, the battle itself (a very short part of the film), then his recovery and rehabilitation. As a war film, the real subject is the reintegration of servicemen back into society. The best scene may be in the naval hospital, as Schmid and his fellow injured talk about what they expect from their country and - ultimately - themselves.The problem? It's just not written or acted very well. Tough guy Garfield plays Schmid as not particularly likable. His chemistry with girlfriend Ruth - well played by Eleanor Parker, as much as the script allows - isn't particularly good even before he enlists. Schmid is pretty much a jerk. Garfield isn't subtle, emotes little, and talks constantly in his clipped, tough guy manner. Dane Clark as his fellow Marine is much more emotive, likable, and believable. The battle scene isn't much of a battle, stagy, with the Marines simply continuing to fire their machine gun until dawn. (That the Japanese soldier held up the grenade in front of Schmid instead of throwing it into their bunker was a little ridiculous.) A decent wartime film with an important message. I just wish someone other than Garfield had been the lead.

A very good wartime movie showing the effects of war on a hometown boy who looses his eyesight on Guadalcanal and must come home and re-adjust himself with the help of family and friends. An excellent cast of actor's helps make this movie very entertaining. Eleanor Parker's role as the girlfriend was worthy of an Oscar nomination. She has such an innocence to her in this movie. Ann Doran role was equally satisfying as was all of her small supporting roles. I especially like the hometown aura of pre-war Phildelphia. The hunting scene is very good. Of course the war scene on Guadalcanal truly showed the horror faced by our soldiers during this epic battle. A well deserving film and one that should not be forgotten

John Garfield plays a Marine who is blinded by a grenade while fighting on Guadalcanal and who has to learn to live with his disability. He has all the stereotypical notions about blindness, and is sure he'll be a burden to everyone. The hospital staff and his fellow wounded Marines can't get through to him. Neither can his girl back home played by Eleanor Parker. He's stubborn and blinded by his own fears, self pity, and prejudices. It's a complex role that Garfield carries off memorably in a great performance that keeps one watching in spite of the ever present syrupy melodrama. The best scenes are on Guadalcanal, where he's in a machine gun nest trying to fend off the advancing Japanese soldiers in a hellish looking night time battle, and later a dream sequence in the hospital where he sees himself walking down a train platform with a white cane, dark glasses, and holding out a tin cup, all the while his girlfriend walks backward away from the camera.