''Manila Calling'' is a 1942 American

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

drama from

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

, produced by Sol M. Wurtzel, directed by Herbert I. Leeds, that stars

Lloyd Nolan Lloyd Benedict Nolan (August 11, 1902 – September 27, 1985) was an American stage, film and television actor who rose from a supporting player and B-movie lead early in his career to featured player status after creating the role of Captain Qu ...

Carole Landis Carole Landis (born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste; January 1, 1919 – July 5, 1948) was an American actress and singer. She worked as a contract player for Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1940s. Her breakout role was as the female lead in the 1940 ...

Cornel Wilde Cornel Wilde (born Kornél Lajos Weisz; October 13, 1912 – October 16, 1989) was a Hungarian-American actor and filmmaker. Wilde's acting career began in 1935, when he made his debut on Broadway. In 1936 he began making small, uncredited ap ...

James Gleason James Austin Gleason (May 23, 1882 – April 12, 1959) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter born in New York City. Gleason often portrayed "tough-talking, world-weary guys with a secret heart-of-gold." Early life Gleason was ...

Lester Matthews Arthur Lester Matthews (6 June 1900 – 5 June 1975) was an English actor. Career In his career, the handsome Englishman made more than 180 appearances in film and on television. He was erroneously credited in later years as Les Matthews. M ...

Louis Jean Heydt Louis Jean Heydt (April 17, 1903 – January 29, 1960) was an American character actor in film, television, and theatre, most frequently seen in hapless, ineffectual, or fall-guy roles. Early life Heydt was born in 1903 (not 1905, as many so ...

, and Ted North. The film's storyline concerns American civil engineering forces struggling to establish an operational radio base following the invasion of the Philippines, with Japanese army forces resisting, and with the complication of the arrival in their midst of a beautiful

nightclub singer A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...

fleeing the Japanese.

Plot

After the Japanese army invades the Philippines, they capture the radio station owned by the American Radio Communications Company. The staff is forced to escape. and they head into the jungle, where they eventually meet up with a band of determined Filipino Scouts, known as

Moros In Greek mythology, Moros /ˈmɔːrɒs/ or Morus /ˈmɔːrəs/ (Ancient Greek: Μόρος means 'doom, fate') is the personified spirit of impending doom, who drives mortals to their deadly fate. It was also said that Moros gave people the abi ...

. Together, they cut their way through the dense jungle, finally making their way to the coast. The ARCC staff, made up of radio technician Jeff Bailey and communications men Lucky Matthews and Tom O'Rourke, find an advance Japanese force occupying the plantation of an old friend. Working with the Moros as a guerrilla unit, they attack and kill the Japanese, seizing the plantation for its available radio transmitter. Solidifying their defense positions, the group quickly discovers there is no food or water and that the plantation is now largely surrounded by elements of the Japanese army. A night club singer, Edna Fraser, also escaping from the Japanese, has made it safely to the plantation as well. Jeff is working to repair the damaged radio set in order to send messages of hope and courage to the conquered Filipinos. His hope is to rally the populace against Japanese enslavement and exploitation by joining the Philippine resistance. The Japanese quickly become aware of this possibility and, using all means at their disposal, launch a determined land and air campaign to find and destroy the radio transmitter. Jeff is killed, and the plantation comes under heavy bombardment from the air. As the bombs fall, Lucky is able to transmit a series of patriotic messages to the Filipino people under the repeated

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

"Manila Calling, Manila Calling". He demands continued resistance, at all costs, to the Japanese invaders from everyone hearing the broadcast. He encourages unwavering belief that all 130 million Americans are behind them and that they have not abandoned the islands and its people but are working even now toward their liberation. As the bombs continue to fall, destroying the plantation buildings one by one, Lucky states in no uncertain terms that General MacArthur will make good on his pledge to return and free the Philippines and its people. He then pleads, "America, send us the tanks and the guns, and we'll finish the job. Manila calling, Manila calling, Manila calling"...

Cast

as Lucky Matthews *

as Edna Fraser *

as Jeff Bailey *

as Tim O'Rourke *

as Wayne Ralston *

as Harold Watson * Ted North as Walter Jamison *

Martin Kosleck Martin Kosleck (born Nicolaie Yoshkin; March 24, 1904 – January 15, 1994) was a German film actor. Like many other German actors, he fled when the Nazi Germany, Nazis came to power. Inspired by his deep hatred of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis ...

as Heller *

Ralph Byrd Ralph Byrd (April 22, 1909 – August 18, 1952) was an American actor. He was most famous for playing the comic strip character Dick Tracy on screen, in serials, films and television. Early life and career The son of George and Edna May ...

as Corbett *

Charles Tannen Charles David Tannen (October 22, 1915 – December 28, 1980) was an American actor and screenwriter. Career A general purpose actor who worked primarily at 20th Century Fox, Tannen had mostly bit and/or supporting parts in movies, appea ...

as Fillmore * Elisha Cook Jr. as Gillman *

Harold Huber Harold Huber (born Harold Joseph Huberman, December 5, 1909September 29, 1959) was an American actor who appeared on film, radio and television. Early life Huber was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants from Imperial Russia, who had arrived in ...

as Santoro *

Victor Sen Yung Victor Sen Yung (born Victor Cheung Young or Sen Yew Cheung; ; October 18, 1915 – body discovered November 9, 1980) was an American character actor, best known for playing Jimmy Chan in the Charlie Chan films and Hop Sing in the western seri ...

as Armando * Uncredited actors: Rudy Robles as a Moro warrior,

Richard Loo Richard Loo (October 1, 1903 – November 20, 1983) was an American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1931 and 1982. Early lif ...

, and Leonard Strong

Production

According to

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

, "less than 12 hours" after the start of the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

, John Larkin "was banging on the door of 20th Century-Fox with a scenario entitled 'Secret Agent in Japan.' He made one of the quickest sales in the history of the movies".

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reviewer T. S. wrote:

From time to time Mr. Nolan does succeed in creating a credible hero, but for the most part the characters are hackneyed in writing and performance. As an action film of the more rudimentary kind, 'Manila Calling' is continuously noisy. But considering the subject and the times, that hardly seems enough.

Home media

''Manila Calling'' was released as a

manufacture on demand Build-on-demand or manufacturing on demand (MOD) refers to a manufacturing process where goods are produced only when or as they are required. This allows scalability and adjustable assemblies depending on the current needs of the part requestor or ...

DVD from 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives.

References

External links

*
Turner Classic Movies page
* {{Herbert I. Leeds 1942 films 1942 war films American war films Films directed by Herbert I. Leeds 20th Century Fox films World War II films made in wartime Films set in Manila Pacific War films Films set in the Philippines American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films English-language war films