Gung Ho!

1943

86 Min

Currently 2.3/5 Stars.
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DIR Ray Enright

CAST Grace McDonald, Alan Curtis, Noah Beery Jr., J. Carrol Naish, Sam Levene, David Bruce, Richard Lane, Walter Sande, Robert Mitchum, Randolph Scott, Louis Jean Heydt

Synopsis

With its thrilling battle sequences and high-voltage star power, this fact-based, testosterone-laden melodrama about the battalion of misfits that recaptured the Japanese-held Makin Island in the first Pacific offensive of World War II served as a powerful piece of morale-boosting propaganda on its 1943 release. Hollywood heavy Randolph Scott plays the commander who recruited and trained the soldiers, and Robert Mitchum co-stars.

Director

Ray Enright

Journeyman director Ray Enright started out in the editing department at Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios; before working his way up to chief editor, he also contributed gags to Sennett’s 2-reel comedies. Following World War I service, Enright joined Thomas Ince’s editing staff, then moved to up-and-coming Warner Bros. There he was given his first opportunity to direct with the Rin Tin Tin vehicle Tracked by the Police (1927). He remained on the Warners/First National directorial pool until 1941, adding his professional (if somewhat anonymous) touch to the films of Joe E. Brown, Joan Blondell, Pat O’Brien, Jimmy Cagney and Dick Powell. Enright’s credits of the 1940s include Universal’s The Spoilers (1942), Columbia’s Good Luck Mr. Yates (1943) and RKO’s The Iron Major (1943). Ray Enright returned to the Warners fold in the late 1940s, where he became one of the principal directors of the studio’s medium-budget westerns. —allmovie