If you discount Robert Taylor, a contract artist, there's very little about this film that says MGM yet that was the studio responsible. Thomas Mitchell, aged fifty-one at the time was a tad long in the tooth even for a thirty-year man, Lloyd Nolan, who turned in arguably the best performance had strong ties to Paramount, George Murphy was a jobbing actor who followed the money, Robert Walker was just starting out and was not identified with any studio, likewise Desi Arnaz. Journeyman director Tay Garnett jobbed around though he did helm The Postman Always Rings Twice for MGM and so on. What we have here is our old-friend the Hollywood 'Bomber-Crew' movie in which a group of disparate people are thrown together due to circumstances beyond their control (in this case war) and told to just get on with it. Of it's type it's as good as any and better than some.
Review of Bataan
