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Never heard of Wake Island? Its fall terrified Americans at Christmas of 1941. The war’s just begun, we’re definitely not winning, and the assignment was to make a movie about a tragic defeat that might be the first of many tragic defeats for the U.S.A.. Paramount’s careful morale-builder doesn’t exaggerate or sentimentalize the brutal fall of a tiny atoll in the Pacific, and stands as an example of filmmaking reaching for hope in the face of disaster.

Wake Island

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1942 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 88 min. / Street Date August 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston, Macdonald Carey, William Bendix, Albert Dekker, Walter Abel, Mikhail Rasumny, Rod Cameron, Bill Goodwin, Damian O’Flynn, Frank Albertson, Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Britton, Hillary Brooke, Dane Clark, Frank Faylen, Mary Field, Alan Hale Jr., Richard Loo, James Millican, Jack Mulhall, Keith Richards, Phillip Terry, Mary Thomas,...

The war’s just begun, we’re definitely not winning, and your assignment is to make a movie about a tragic defeat that could be the first of many tragic defeats for the U.S.A.. Paramount’s careful morale-building war drama doesn’t exaggerate or over-sentimentalize the brutal fall of a tiny island in the Pacific. John Farrow directs a fine group of actors who knew the film ‘had to say the right things.’ It stands as a fine example of filmmaking reaching for hope in the face of disaster.

The first WW2 Hollywood combat film based on an actual battle is the beautifully made Wake Island. It’s even more beautifully conceived to achieve multiple public relations aims in a time of great crisis. Until 1941 Wake Island had been little more than a stop for Pacific-hopping Pan-American clipper ship airplanes; Japan bombed it a few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

All hail Olivia de Havilland, America’s longest living movie star. The more de Havilland pictures we see, the more we admire her taste and judgment in roles… or is that better expressed as, the more we admire her ability to guide a near-perfect career, going so far as to defy the studios in court. This 1941 drama has director Mitchell Leisen in fine form, a smart script by Brackett & Wilder, and a central topic that’s currently quite hot: illegal immigration.

Hold Back the Dawn

Blu-ray

Arrow Academy

1941 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 116 min. / Street Date July 16, 2019 / 39.95

Starring: Charles Boyer, Olivia de Havilland, Paulette Goddard, Victor Francen, Walter Abel, Curt Bois, Rosemary DeCamp, Nestor Paiva, Eva Puig, Micheline Cheirel, Madeleine Lebeau, Mikhail Rasumny, Charles Arnt, Mitchell Leisen, Brian Donlevy, Kitty Kelly, Veronica Lake, Carlos Villarías, Richard Webb.

Cinematography: Leo Tover

Film Editor: Doane Harrison

Original Music: Victor Young

Written by Charles Brackett,...

Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films made available by Netflix for instant streaming.

This Week’s New Instant Releases… Title: Black Heaven (2010)

Streaming Available: 04/12/2011

Cast: Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Louise Bourgoin, Melvil Poupaud, Pauline Etienne, Pierre Niney, Ali Marhyar, Patrick Descamps, Pierre Vittet, Swann Arlaud, Francesco Merenda

Director: Gilles Marchand

Synopsis: While searching for the owner of a missing mobile phone with his girlfriend, Marion (Pauline Etienne), Gaspard (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet) falls for the mysterious Sam (Louise Bourgoin), who draws him into a dangerous virtual-reality video game, where she provokes unsuspecting victims into killing themselves. Directed by Gilles Marchand, this intense French drama alternates between real-life events and those within the simulated computer world. Title: Heartless (2009)

Streaming Available: 04/12/2011

Cast: Jim Sturgess, Clémence Poésy , Noel Clarke, Luke Treadaway, Justin Salinger,...