''Suicide Battalion'' is a 1958 World War II film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring

Mike Connors Krekor Ohanian (August 15, 1925 – January 26, 2017), known professionally as Mike Connors, was an American actor. He was best known for playing private detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series ''Mannix'' from 1967 to 1975. This role ...

and John Ashley, who made the film while on leave from the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. In 1968, it was remade for television by Larry Buchanan as '' Hell Raiders'', which was the film's original

working title A working title is a preliminary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing. It is often styled in trade publications as (wt) and is synonymous with production title and tentative ...

American International Pictures American International Pictures, LLC (AIP or American International Productions) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution c ...

originally released it as a

double feature The double feature is a Film, motion picture industry phenomenon in which theaters would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which the presentation of one feature film would be followed by various short subjec ...

with '' Jet Attack''.

Plot

The story takes place during World War II in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. A group of American soldiers are recruited for a dangerous mission to destroy an enemy base and keep strategic documents out of the reach of the invading

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

Cast

as Major Matt McCormack * John Ashley as Pvt. Tommy Novello * Jewell Lain as Elizabeth Ann Mason * Russ Bender as Sgt. Harry Donovan * Bing Russell as Lt. Chet Hall * Scott Peters as Pvt. Wally Zagorsky * Walter Maslow as Pvt. Marty Green * John McNamara as Colonel Craig * Clifford Kawada as Colonel Hiosho * Bob Tetrick as Pvt Bill * Marjorie Stapp as Beverly * Jan Englund as Annette * Isabel Cooley as Julie *

Hilo Hattie Hilo Hattie (born Clarissa Haili, October 28, 1901 – December 12, 1979) was a Hawaiian singer, hula dancer, actress and comedienne of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Early life and career Hattie was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She loved to dance the ...

as Mama Lily * Sammee Tong as Papa Lily * Art Gilmore as Captain Hendry * Jackie Joseph as Cho-Cho

Production

The film was an original story by Lou Rusoff reportedly based on the capture of General William Dean during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. It was announced for production in November 1955 as ''Hell Raiders''. It was to star Lance Fuller who had made '' Apache Woman'' for producer Alex Gordon and had signed a ten-film deal with AIP (or ARC as it was then known), to make two films a year for five years. Filming was to begin January 1956. Filming was pushed back and Fuller did not make the movie. In April 1956 AIP announced that Richard Denning would star and that Edward L. Cahn would direct. Denning ended up not appearing in the film either, which was not made until late 1957. Filming began on 12 November 1957. Star John Ashley was doing a six-month stint in the army at the time. The producers got him an early release to make the movie. Ashley later had a noted association with filmmaking in the Philippines.

Reception

''Variety'' called it "well produced". "A very poor man's half-Naked half-dead," wrote the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. "The good basic idea is hopelessly messed up with tritisms." Jackie Joseph called it "this B minus war movie."

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

See also

References

External links