Wake Island is a 1942 war film directed by John Farrow. Though it uses fictional characters, the film is based on the real life Battle of Wake Island, fought in December of 1941, directly after the Attack on Pearl Harbor.
Director: John Farrow
Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Cast: Brian Donlevy, Macdonald Carey, Robert Preston, William Bendix
US Box Office: $8,750,000 ($310,100,000 adjusted for inflation)
Film Format: Black & White
Genre: War, Drama
Release Date: September 1, 1942 (premiere)
Plot Summary: In November of 1941, Major Geoffrey Caton (Brian Donlevy) and civilian military contractor Shad McClosky (Albert Dekker) are sent from Hawaii to Wake Island. Caton wants to improve efficiency on the island, including by straightening out troublemaking privates Aloysius Randall (William Bendix), and Joe Doyle (Robert Preston). While in the middle of their routine duties, war breaks out between the United States and Japan, and Caton’s group is forced to defend Wake Island against a Japanese Invasion.
Production: In mid-December of 1941, producers at Paramount became interested in making a film based on the then ongoing American attempt to repel a Japanese invasion of Wake Island. WR Burnett and Frank Butler wrote the script for Wake Island based on official Marine records. The battle was still raging when they started writing the script, though by the end of the year Wake Island had been captured by the Japanese. Wake Island‘s script received the official approval of the Marine Corps and the US Navy, and it was first film to be produced with the supervision of the War Department. Director John Farrow was hired to direct the film by Paramount producer Buddy DeSylva, who liked Farrow’s previous film Five Came Back (1939).
Filming on Wake Island began in March of 1942. Many of the exterior shots in the film were shot on location in the Salton Sea in California at a beach that resembled Wake Island. According to Paramount, the actual Wake Island encampment was recreated for the production, which included a runway designed by the same engineer who built the runway at Wake Island. The aerial battle scenes were filmed over the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Through newspapers, Paramount informed local citizens of Salt Lake City that the planes with the Japanese Rising Sun logo were just props for a movie, and not an actual Japanese invasion. Close up scenes of cruisers and battle ships firing their guns were recorded at a coastal firing range near San Diego. After finishing Wake Island, Farrow signed a long-term contract with Paramount.
Fun Facts and Trivia: All of the Japanese characters in Wake Island are portrayed by Filipino or Chinese actors. Some sources state that Chuck Connors was an extra in the film during the meal scene, however this is inaccurate. At the time, Connors was a baseball player in the minor league team Norfolk Tars, based in Virginia, so he could not have been in California at the time to film the scene. In the film, it appears as though most of the American troops are killed by the Japanese, however this did not happen in the real battle. About 50 American soldiers were killed and over 400 soldiers were taken prisoner by the Japanese. MacDonald Carey (Lt. Bruce Cameron) was so inspired by working on Wake Island that he joined the US Marine Corps after filming ended.
Reception: Wake Island received strongly positive reviews from critics at the time of its release. Harrison’s Reports and The New York Times both applauded the film for its realism and thrilling depiction of a then recent battle. NYT‘s Bosley Crowther wrote that Wake Island, “might be a literal document of the manner in which the Wake detachment of Marines fought and died in the finest tradition of their tough and indomitable corps.” Wake Island was ranked #4 on Film Daily’s year end poll of 592 critics to determine the best films of 1942.
Wake Island was a major box office hit for Paramount. Being released early on in World War II, audiences liked the film’s patriotism and its admirable support for the American military effort. Wake Island became one of the top ten highest grossing films of 1942.
Oscars: Wake Island was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Picture (Joseph Sistrum for Paramount), Best Director (John Farrow), Best Supporting Actor (William Bendix), and Best Original Screenplay (W.R. Burnett and Frank Butler). The film did not win any Academy Awards, however John Foster did win the New York Film Critics’ Award for Best Director that year.
Why You Should See It: Wake Island is a very good war film. The film features many thrilling battle scenes, and also includes many touching emotional moments as well. I think that the decision to cast actors who were not big stars helps the cast better embody their characters. As a World War II film made during wartime, Wake Island is very patriotic, and it played an admirable role in boosting moral and helping the American military effort.