Pride of the Marines (Warner Bros.) (1945)

Publicity THE CAST Al Schmid JOHN GARFIELD Ruth Hartley ELEANOR PARKER Lee Diamond DANE CLARK Jim Merchant John Ridgely Virginia Pfeiffer Rosemary DeCamp Ella Merchant Ann Doran Loretta Merchant Ann Todd Kebabian Warren Douglas Tom D’Andrea Don McGuire Rory Mallinson Ainslee Se Stephen Richards Johnny Rivers Anthony Caruso Capt. Burroughs Moroni Olsen Red. Dave Willock 2nd Marine te John Sheridan Lieutenant John Miles Corporal a John Compton Lenny Lennie Bremen Corpsman ees Michael Brown PRODUCTION Produced by Jerry Wald. Directed by Delmer Daves. Screen Play by Albert Maltz; Adaptation by Marvin Borowsky; From a Book by Roger Butterfield. Photographed by Peverell Marley, A.S.C. Art Director, Leo Kuter. Film Editor, Owen Marks. Sound by Stanley Jones. Set Decorations by Walter F. Tilford. Special Effects by L. Robert Burks, A.S.C. Technical Advisors — Maj. Louis Aronson, U.S.M.C., and Maj. Gordon Warner, U.S.M.C., Ret. Wardrobe by Milo Anderson. Makeup Artist, Perc Westmore. Music by Franz Waxman; Orchestral Arrangements by Leonid Raab; Musical Director, Leo F. Forbstein. Assistant Director, Art Lueker. Unit Manager, Chuck Hansen. Unit Pub licist, Jaik Rosenstein. The Synopsis ; (Not for Publication) This is a true story. It is the story of a boy named Al Schmid and a girl named Ruth Hartley and of the generation of Americans that became twentyone on December 7, 1941. As a young man of twenty, Al Schmid (JOHN GARFIELD) is earning a living in a Philadelphia machine shop and boarding at the home of the Merchants (JOHN RIDGELY and ANN DORAN), little concerned with affairs of the world. His world, of coon hunting and baseball games, he shares with a girl, Ruth Hartley (Eleanor Parker). On Sunday, December 7, 1941, Al and Ruth share the terrible news that Pearl Harbor is aflame and the Japanese are on the move. To them, it seems remote and fantastically unreal. It is not long, however, before Al enlists in the Marines. In the small hours of the morning, Ruth helps Al pack and, at his request, says goodbye to him then. Against his wishes, Ruth does go to the station to catch one last glimpse of Al. From a train that is ready to leave, Al spots Ruth and they share a bittersweet farewell. Shyly, he hands her a tiny box containing an engagement ring, and then, he is off to training ... and war. Unshaven, dirty, exhausted, waiting for replacements that never come, Al is a member of a machine gun crew at Guadalcanal, defending a salient against a nocturnal Jap onslaught. His buddies are Corporal Lee Diamond (DANE CLARK), and Johnny Rivers (TONY CARUSO). They hold back the Jap advance for some time but then Johnny suddenly is killed and Lee is seriously wounded. Al operates the gun alone until a Jap sneaks his way across a muddy stream and hurls a grenade into the nest. Al is wounded. At a San Diego naval hospital, Al is told that medical treatment on his eyes will be to no. avail. Embittered, Al tells Virginia Pfeiffer (Rosemary DeCamp), a Red Cross social worker, to write to Ruth and to call everything off between them. Soon afterward, Al is notified that he is to be awarded the Navy Cross, the award to be made in Philadelphia during Christmas week. Al demurs against going home but it is a military order and there is no alternative. Posing as a Wave officer, Ruth meets Al’s train at Philadelphia and drives him home. When he ultimately discovers the ruse, he is violently insistent upon being taken back to the hospital. But it is Christmas Eve and for the sake of the Merchant’s little girl (ANN TODD), Al stays for dinner. The situation reaches the breaking point when the child persists in innocently making awkward references to Al’s condition. In desperation, he tries to leave alone, but trips on the Christmas tree and falls to the floor. All his resolve melts. In Ruth’s arms, Al hears her say that it is love that makes her stick to him . . . not pity. On a cold winter day at the Navy Yard, an Honor Guard stands at attention. Facing a group of six high-ranking officers, listening to a lieutenant read his citation for extraordinary heroism, straight and proud stands Al Schmid, Marine. (Running Time: 119 minutes)