Film Friday: "So Proudly We Hail!" (1943)
In honor of Claudette Colbert's 112th birthday, which is on Sunday, this week on "Film Friday" I thought I wou ld tell you a little bit about one of my personal favorite films of her s. Theatrical release poster Directed by Mark Sandrich, So Proudly We Hail! (1943) tells the story of a group of eight Army nurses who are evacuated to Australia in May 1942, after surviving the battles of Bataan and Corregidor. Their superior officer, Lt. Janet "Davy" Davidson (Claudette Colbert), is in a severe state of mental and phsysical collapse which has left her in complete silence. During the sea voyage back home, Major Harrison (John Litel), an Army doctor, asks the women to recount their w ar experiences so that he might discover the cause the Davy's detachment and help her overcome it. Lt. Sadie Schwartz (Mary Treen) then begins narrating their story, starting with the day they shipped out from San Francisco just before December 7, 1941. While the nu...