So Proudly We Hail

So Proudly We Hail (1943)

The First Great Love Story of Our Women at the Fighting Front!

During the start of the Pacific campaign in World War II, Lieutenant Janet Davidson is the head of a group of U.S. military nurses who are trapped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Davidson tries to keep up the spirits of her staff, which includes Lieutenants Joan O'Doul and Olivia D'Arcy. They all seek to maintain a sense of normal life, including dating, while under constant danger as they tend to wounded soldiers.

Date of release
1943-09-09
TMDB
5.7 / 10 (27)
Runtime
2h 6m
Genres
War, Drama, Romance
Director
Mark Sandrich

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 4

So Proudly We Hail! is a 1943 American war film directed and produced by Mark Sandrich from a screenplay by Allan Scott based on the book I Served on Bataan by Lieutenant Colonel Juanita Redmond. Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, and Veronica Lake star as U.S. Army nurses sent to the Philippines during the early days of World War II. George Reeves, Sonny Tufts, and Mary Servoss also star in major supporting roles.

Production

Allan Scott said he was originally asked to make a two-reel film for the Red Cross. Then while in Washington through the help of Eleanor Roosevelt he met nurses rescued from Corregidor at Walter Reed Hospital. Scott said he heard about "the atrocities and rapes that were committed on their comrades in the Bataan peninsula.

The film originally was titled Hands of Mercy. It was announced in July 1942 with Allan Scott to write the script and Mark Sandrich to direct.

In August 1942, the title was changed to So Proudly We Hail. The same month Claudette Colbert was announced for the lead.

Cry Havoc, an unsuccessful play about nurses on the Bataan peninsula, had been much criticized for its inaccuracies so Paramount took extra care with the film to get approval from the War Department and military and nursing advisers. MGM released a film based on the play in 1943.

Macdonald Carey and Joel McCrea reportedly were meant to star at one stage. Paulette Goddard reportedly had the script rewritten so her role was as prominent as Colbert's. George Reeves was borrowed from producer Harry Sherman. Sonny Tufts made his debut in the movie.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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