The Frame

In John Ford’s great classic war film, John Wayne and Robert Montgomery are the commanders of a fleet of PT boats in the Philippines, trying constantly to convince their superior officers that PT boats are actually, like, useful in combat and constantly getting pushed into messenger and ferry service instead. Most of my war film experience is with the European theatre, so it’s always interesting to me (and sometimes confusing, because I don’t know the battles as well) to see one set in the Pacific–this one includes the retreat from Bataan, which I *did* know about. ;) But the main thing here isn’t the plot and specific battles so much as the close and varied view of the life of PT boat crews, from participating in battles to being injured and hospitalized, to forging relationships with the nurses, to being stranded who knows where until they get their boats repaired, to being recalled to train the next wave of troops. At first I was looking for a strong goal or final mission that everything was leading to, but I enjoyed it a lot more when I realized that though there is a climactic battle, the film really isn’t based around it in any way. It’s not quite a character study either, though. It’s a war film that captures very well the sense of not always knowing what the next mission will be, or how important it will be, and the joys that have to be taken moment by moment, because war can steal them away at any second.
Superior