So Proudly We Hail (1943) (2024)

Popular reviews

• Review by 📀 Cammmalot 📀 ★★★½ 2

  Cinematic Time Capsule1943 Marathon - Film #54

  ”It gets embarrassing being called a heroine all the time. What is a heroine, anyway?”

  I have to admit that when I read this film was about a group of WWII military nurses being sent to the Philippines, I was instantly fearful that I was about to be subjected to an eye-rolling and sap-infused melodrama. So you can imagine my relief when this turned out to be one of the stronger war movies of the year.

  Sure there’s romance sprinkled throughout, but what’s most impressive is how the film refuses to pull any of it’s wartime punches. It’s action-packed and filled to the brim with highly violent and suspenseful battles. All the…

• Review by Jim Morrow ★★★★½

  Not your typical WWII wartime propaganda film. The story does a fine balancing act between the more relaxed early scenes, as our three mains flesh out their characters, love interests, and in the case of Lake, a deep sense of depression and hatred for the enemy. A group of nurses, headed to Hawaii, are re-routed to the Philippines when war breaks out. There, they see the results of the war first-hand, and continue relationships that had begun on the ship. They are in Bataan, and as it is overrun by the Japanese, we begin to realize that some of our favorite characters won't be making it to the end of the film. The story is told in flashback, so if…

• Review by Jillian Michelle ★★★★½

  “He never saw his father and his son will never see him......it’s a pattern that will go on I suppose. Until we do make the world decent place to live in.”

• Review by PUNQ ★★★

  The story of brave American women working as nurses in the Philippines as the Japanese continually bomb them down. The most notable thing was seeing these glamorous Hollywood girls in a unglamorous light. They even covered them in "ugly" make-up to show the fatigue of war. You've rarely seen Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake and others look like this. The drama works alright when spiced up with the action. Without it So Proudly We Hail! (1943) would have seemed more tedious, but they strike a cord with a few of the scenes and it's respectable drama celebrating the effort of women in the war.

• Review by Sandy

  In the heart of war not knowing the outcome, a film of tribute and hope, determinedly is created. It follows in the wake of events, with hardly enough time to gather in all of the information, because there's a sense of urgency to tell this particular story of heroism. A muster call, if you will, to put faces on those that are "in the trenches" and give voice to their courage. Time is of the essence, so that "this voice will grow in volume until it thunders all over the world."

  The message echoes the The Wilcoxon Speech with words of "This is the people's war" and "I hope to God the people at home aren't losing it for us." Strong statements, but who can blame them? They are giving their all, so make it count for something.

• Review by Jim Beaver ★★★★

  Hollywood during the Second World War created a slew of dramas with the war as setting, a great number of them inspirational morale-builders, often patriotic in the extreme, flag-waving and filled with righteous pride and with intense lip-service toward the ideals that the country was supposedly built on. The best of these, though, pulled few punches in depicting the horrors of war (within the limits of what the Production Code allowed) and often portrayed moments of despair. While not among the top rank of such films, So Proudly We Hail! offers a painful look at the war from an unusual perspective, that of Army Nurses, trapped alongside thousands of men in the losing battle for Bataan in the Philippine Islands.…

• Review by hayley ★★★★

  There is something incredible about seeing war films from the perspective of women and this was truly an incredible watch. Starring three outstanding actresses with Claudette Colbert in the lead and supported wonderfully by Paulette Goddard & Veronica Lake. There was not a single moment that felt glamorised it was as dark and gritty as you’d expect a war film to be. It had great moments of celebration but for the most part it was fighting through the chaos in a war that was ultimately pushing everyone back. Colbert was excellent and continues to impress me with her strength and how she was never afraid to take on multiple different roles. Goddard was quite impressive too I sometimes forget how great…

• Review by irene ★★★½

  what a talented trio of actresses tbh

• Review by asta ★★★★

  A movie about WWII.....😒.... from women's POV.....🤩

• Review by Kari ★★★

  A good movie about military nurses sent to the Philippines during World War II. I liked Cry, Havoc! better but this had some great performances. Claudette Colbert and Paulette Goddard were very good. Veronica Lake, in a smaller role, showed a more serious side than I've seen before.

• Review by 🦭 ★★★½

  not bad, i actually think it’s interesting to see more movies of the women who served during these times

• Review by Charles Pedskalny ★★★★

  Not sure if I’ve ever seen Lake without her signature hairdo, at first, I didn’t recognize her at all, but it had to be her as Claudette Colbert and Paulette Goddard had already been introduced. Not only that but Lake’s character is so bitter, suffering from some severe PTSD, and mostly just angry at everyone and everything around here cumulating in an astonishing sequence.

  One thing about that sequence, her hair, always up and proper for a military nurse, came down and had the look once again as she went to her explosive fate!

  WW 2 pictures made by Hollywood during the war is always something I approach with some wariness, mainly due to assuming they’re all propaganda films. And…