I'm not crazy about the title which gives the impression that this is a B film. Perhaps for Warner Brothers it was considering that they had bigger films that year like "Camelot", "Wait Until Dark" and "Cool Hand Luke". But they had another B film, "Bonnie and Clyde", which became a surprise hit and moved up to A status. The element of this that indicates B is the lack of a superstar although Chad Everett was quite a matinee idol.
There were a lot of World War II films made during the war that covered similar territory but this is combined with a 50's gloss of wide screen, beautiful color photography and a soapy subplot that is really important to the story as a whole. That involves the gorgeous Marilyn Devin as the head of a bond tour that Everett is assigned to upon his return from Guadalcanal where his bravery helped win the battle. FDR gives him the presidential medal of honor and after aggressively pursuing the determined Devin gets married and becomes involved in training at Camp Pendleton.
A great moment has Devin, who up to now has been a rather cold pursuit, reveals the reason she doesn't want to get involved with another man in combat, and for a while, it appears that Everett will not be going back to fight. But tragedy strikes and Everett becomes conflicted about what he should do. This brings on more combat scenes and conflict in the marriage which makes the romantic element much more important than it usually is.
I found Devin to be great in her role and it's a shame she only made a few movies. Gene Hackman has a small part, the same year he got acclaim for "Bonnie and Clyde". Dean Jagger is excellent as Everett's commanding officer who has to step in when Everett's depression gets out of control. This is quite a surprising find as many movies about World War II made in the 60's focused on the violence over the story, and this avoids that trap.
There were a lot of World War II films made during the war that covered similar territory but this is combined with a 50's gloss of wide screen, beautiful color photography and a soapy subplot that is really important to the story as a whole. That involves the gorgeous Marilyn Devin as the head of a bond tour that Everett is assigned to upon his return from Guadalcanal where his bravery helped win the battle. FDR gives him the presidential medal of honor and after aggressively pursuing the determined Devin gets married and becomes involved in training at Camp Pendleton.
A great moment has Devin, who up to now has been a rather cold pursuit, reveals the reason she doesn't want to get involved with another man in combat, and for a while, it appears that Everett will not be going back to fight. But tragedy strikes and Everett becomes conflicted about what he should do. This brings on more combat scenes and conflict in the marriage which makes the romantic element much more important than it usually is.
I found Devin to be great in her role and it's a shame she only made a few movies. Gene Hackman has a small part, the same year he got acclaim for "Bonnie and Clyde". Dean Jagger is excellent as Everett's commanding officer who has to step in when Everett's depression gets out of control. This is quite a surprising find as many movies about World War II made in the 60's focused on the violence over the story, and this avoids that trap.