(Some spoilers) A bit more accurate then the usual war movie that was cranked out of the Hollowwood studios during the Second World War. "Corregidor" honestly portrays the heroic US and Phillipino siege of the island fortress known as "The Rock. Corregidor held off massive Japanese attacks from land sea and air from the time that Battan fell on April 9, 1942 to it's eventually surrender to the Japanese imperial forces on May 6, 1942, a total of 28 days.
The movie starts on December 6, 1941 at Manoi in the Phillippines with Dr. Royce lee coming to the islands with her live-in maid Hyacinth, Ruby Dandridge, from New York City. Royce meets her long and forgotten, on his part, love Dr. Jan Stockman, Otto Kruger, and in less then 24 hours the two lovebirds get married.
After The Wedding, December 7,1941,the Japanese air force strikes the wedding party as well as all the US bases in the Pacific West of Hawaii, notably Perl Harbor getting the USA into WWII. The surprise Japanese attack Kills the presiding priest, Frank Jaquet, as well as Hyacinth among other guests at the ceremony.
Going north away from the advancing Japanese army the two, Jan & Joyce, link up with a group of US soldiers and travel, through the jungle and over the waters of Minila Bay, to the island of Corregidor for the US army's last stand against the Japanese. We then have a really schmaltzy love triangle between Jan Joyce and an old flame of her's back from her medical school days in New York US Army Dr. Michael, Donald Woods.
Dr. Michael dumped Joyce back then when she, being a blue blood and having lots of the green stuff, rented an office for Dr. Michael's medical practice on the fancy and prestigious New York's Park Ave. The guy could have evened things out by not charging fees to his clients for his services if he had such a violent dislike for making money.
While on the island we also have another war love story between US Army nurse Hey-Dutch Van Doren, Wanda McKay, and her US Army boyfriend Cpl. Pinky, he's called Pinky that's because he'll so large, Mason, Rick Villin. Both Pinky & Hey-Dutch end up getting killed in the fighting. Hey-Dutch from a Japanese aerial bombardment and Pinky from being machine gunned, by a Japanese Zero fighter plane, that he also shot down from his tail-gunner position on the last plane out of Corregidor.
On the island Jan changes his mind about getting married to Joyce, this after three short months, and dumps her, like Dr. Michael did, back into Dr. Michael's lap. Jan also solves the problem of Joyce being torn and divided between him and Dr. Michael by having himself get killed by a Japanese bombardment. Leaving Joyce free to marry Dr. Michael, but even that didn't go too well with Joyce being forced to leave the island as Dr. Michael stayed behind to be either killed or captured by the invading Japaneses troops.
I found the love triangle and love story,between Jan & Joyce & Dr. Michael as well as Pinky and Hey-Dutch, far more interesting the the battle action scenes themselves.
