Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

MGM did this 1943 film in color which was rare doing wartime in those years for any studio to use. Probably 20th Century Fox filmed in color the most, still even their output was limited.Salute To The Marines stars Wallace Beery in one of his few color features and he brings his gruff, but lovable persona into the part of a training sergeant who is stationed in the Phillipines training new recruits for jungle combat which was thought by some to be inevitable. In fact a very farsighted commandant of the Marine Corps John Lejeune determined back in the early Twenties that the Marine Corps special mission was for amphibious landings. This is what the Beery character is working at when he gets an assignment to train Filipino civilians to fight.But a character like Beery would NEVER have been training anyone. The plot premise is that Beery, a thirty year veteran of the Corps would have missed every combat engagement in the Marines had which included Mexico, World War I, Haiti, Nicaragua etc. Now somewhere down the line he'd have been assigned some action or he wouldn't be training anyone, let alone rise to the rank of Sergeant Major.Still train he does and his civilian trainees prove adequate to the task even though they're not the most disciplined bunch.The climax is when the Japanese come Beery also proves adequate in fighting a delaying action after the Japanese bomb the church where he and wife Fay Bainter are attending services. This was on the same day where the Japanese were also doing a job on Pearl Harbor. MGM did a far better film a year earlier about the Phillipine campaign and the last stand on Bataan with Robert Taylor. That one holds up far better than Salute To The Marines.Shoehorned into the story is a kindly German store owner played by Reginald Owen who shows his true Nazi colors as the first Japanese troops land. Beery makes short work of him. The US Marines deserved a far better film than Salute To The Marines which is a dated relic of dubious propaganda value even then.

First one needs to remember this film was made DURING the war. Anti Japanese resentment following Pearl Harbor and things like the Bataan Death March were running high. And make no mistake, this film is pretty heavy on the anti Japanese message.But that is also one of the things that makes it interesting. It is a glimpse into how people at the time were actually thinking. And while the "dirty japs" were portrayed as squinty, murdering savages we must remember that at the time it wasn't a completely unfair criticism.The film is also unique in that it has a light "comedy" aspect to it. Wallace Beery manages something like an Archie Bunker quality. Probably much needed comic relief given that the news from the war was not always uplifting.But the final thing one needs to keep in mind is the purpose of this film and ones like it. It was designed to unify the nation against a common enemy. And that is how wars are won. And if the worst thing that happens is our enemies are portrayed in a negative light, well that is hardly the worst thing that happens during wars.

First of all, the Marine who forgot his extra shoelaces would have been verbally chewed out with foul language, probably a physical beating, and doing extra chores. The sergeant would not be giving any rational explanation why you should be carrying extra shoe laces. Back in those days, sergeants did not have to give any logical, practical, reasonable explanations for stuff like that. They tell you to do something,and you did it.Like the movie The War against Mrs. Hadley, it is totally impossible for children of enlisted men and NCOs to have a relationship with officers. The same thing could be said for people of different economic backgrounds to marry each other. Let's face it America was a social class/caste system based the monetary system and political and religious ideologies. Almost all of the officers for the 19th and 20th centuries came from the upper and rich classes families. They only marry people within their social, political, and economic classes. Even today, there is no contact between the officers, NCOs, and enlisted particularly their children when they are off duty and rich people do not marry people from the lower social and economic backgrounds plus the kind of job you have. Why do you think Goucho Marx made fun of the rich people in many of his movies because he knew what they were really like (Bush, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Rothchilds, Duponts, etc).Om his speech the ex-sergeant told the local population, that people are sick, they see a doctor. Well, back in those days the true is many people could not afford a doctor. Doesn't that familiar today? Finally, some of the air combat scenes were used in the 1977 movie Midway starring Henry Fonda and Charles Heston. I wonder why they don't show more movies like that and the War against Ms. Hadley more often? I have never heard of them until I accidentally run across them.

I was only about 8 years old when I saw this film, I'm 69 now,but I never forgot it. In fact it may have played a part in my joining the Marine corps 10 years later. As I recall the story takes place in the Phillipine islands at the beginning of WW2. Sgt. Baily is a crusty old recently retired Master Sergeant who does his best to repel the invading Jappanese with the help of a Phillipino boy. The scene I remember the best was when US forces were trying to blow up a bridge and kept getting shot as they tried to set the charges. I remember It was filmed in color. I would sure like to see it again but I'm sure it must have been destroyed by time and neglect.