Wonderful World of TCM: Wake Island

I celebrated Memorial Day early by watching a TCM recording of "Wake Island" last week. This 1942 picture shows the struggles of a group of Marines defending a spot in the Pacific after Pearl Harbor. Does it have the gritty realism of "Saving Private Ryan" or the haunting lyricism of "Thin Red Line"? Absolutely not. But this WWII has one significant characteristic that those others (and many other war movies today) lack: It's FUN.

Watching it and enjoying the heck out of the experience, I thought about how reverent we are about World War II today, and rightfully so. But have we reached a point where we can't make a fun movie about the conflict unless it's an outright parody? Oh, there are touches of humor in, say, "Flags of Our Fathers," but nothing like "Wake Island," in which explosive action, tense combat, and even death and destruction mingle with downright silly scenes.

William Bendix and Robert Preston steal this picture with their comic relief as bickering, often brawling buddies stationed on the island even before Pearl Harbor brings America into the war. It's not exactly grand larceny considering how understated star Brian Donlevy is as the Major in charge of the undermanned forces, but they are great to watch. Don't read that as a knock on Donlevy, who is fine and appropriately stoic when he needs to be, but Bendix is just always, well, fun. There's something about the big lug that makes him an irresistible performer.

Even in the midst of a major military disaster, the characters in this film can earn legitimate easy laughs by teasing Bendix about the outfit he wears as he prepares to leave home (he of course changes his mind once he realizes what's going on). Soon it's back to bombs bursting and bodies crumpling, but the comedy and the action don't hurt each other in "Wake Island."

Actually, despite the tough times the soldiers face as they fight the Japanese Navy, despite the deaths of major characters and unseen troops, the overwhelming sense you get is that, all things considered, the U.S. military is a fun place to be. This film came out mere months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, mind you. Granted, Hollywood wasn't in the business of making wartime epics that told citizens that War Was Hell, but still.

To make a movie with that kind of message today would draw the ire of critics, I would think, unless it's a Zucker brothers picture. In light of Memorial Day, I wondered how the actual servicemen of the time responded to those kind of contemporary Classic Hollywood war films. Did the lighter elements offend them? Did those troops, or the folks on the homefront, for that matter, think it was disrespectful?

Of course not. I'm confident in making this assertion not because I did any research, but because of what Robert Osborne said before "Wake Island." Hey, you can do research; I'll take a few well-spoken words from Bobby Osbo. Seriously, though, he told us that the soldiers loved the movie. "Wake Island" was a big hit with the boys, and why not? It may have downplayed some of the worst things about the war, but it showed the consequences, too, and it made our forces look like heroes.

Most importantly, perhaps, it was (and is today) an entertaining 90 minutes. So this Memorial Day, I don't feel guilty at all enjoying a crowd-pleasing WWII movie that makes me laugh so often. If it was good enough for them, it's good enough for me.