"Cry 'Havoc'" is one of quite a few films about women at the front lines in the Pacific theater during WWII. What makes this a bit different is that most of the women are NOT nurses, but untrained volunteers who are pressed into service during the final days in the Philippines during the early part of 1942.
I think this film is phenominal. I think it's a testament to Woman kind and the true bravery they can and do show.
What a pleasure it is to see such an amazing cast of women put together in one film. Today we are lucky to get more than 2 women in a film unless we get a comic book movie.
I knew nothing about the film when I happened to land on it about ten minutes in. It was immediately apparent that it was at the very least an unusual item: a WW II film, made in 1943, as the war waged, with an all-female cast.
This is an important story, women who gave and sacrificed for our war efforts, in all wars. Players did a good job, showing hope, even to the last minute.
I had the pleasure to view this film for the first time last night on TCM. This film left me with watery eyes and images that I have reviewed in my mind long after the film ended.
A female led WWII story taking place in a Bataan medical facility from 1943. A couple of nurses muse how they're severely understaffed so when an opportunity comes up to enlarge their ranks (some women are in transit on the island & need employment), they hire them on.
Cry Havoc was based on a play by Allan Kenward which the Shuberts produced on Broadway and ran for a grand total of 11 performances over the Christmas/New Year's days of 1942-43. But what flops on Broadway can sometimes be a great success on screen and vice versa.
It's a well-staged play about a dozen or so nurses trapped on the Bataan peninsula in 1942, short of medicine, short of love, short of everything except Japanese bombs and the rumble of their tanks as they draw nearer. The structure, while offering nothing much new, does a good job of building suspense until the final surrender.
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