Suicide Battalion (1958) starring Mike Connors, John Ashley, Jewell Lain, Russ Bender, Bing Russell, Scott Peters directed by Edward L. Cahn Movie Review

Suicide Battalion (1958)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Suicide Battalion (1958)

The Battle is to Watch

Major Matt McCormack (Mike Connors) and his men find themselves on the island of Baluyanna with a very important mission. With the Japanese sweeping across the Philippines Matt and his men must destroy an American base to make sure that the Japanese don't get their hands on the important papers which have been left on the base. But Matt alongside his men know that whilst their mission is important it is also a suicide mission leading them to drown their sorrows in a bar before they have to do what has to be done.

Let me take you by the hand and guide you through my experience of "Suicide Battalion" and it all starts with plenty of stock war footage which immediately made me alert to the fact that this was most likely going to be one of those low budget 50s war movies. But then as the voice over sets up the scene we are introduced to the location, the island of Baluyanna and as is always the case especially with war movies I did a search for Baluyanna, this island in the Philippines which as it turns out is fictional. Now that is a huge downer because "Suicide Battalion" could have been good if it had been based on fact but appears to be a complete work of fiction and in truth I started to lose interest as fictional low budget 1950s war movies are ten a penny and all a much of a much ness.

But the fact that "Suicide Battalion" is a work of fiction is not the only thing which lead me to become bored as this is one of those war movies where for the most the cast stand around and deliver their dialogue and when ever there is some war action it usually consists of stock footage. That means what these men talk about is meant to keep up entertained but rivalry over a woman and the concerns of one young soldier over marriage is of little interest especially as none of these characters have any depth to make their problems feel real.

What this all boils down to is that "Suicide Battalion" is one of those forgettable war movies made from the 1950s and targeted at a young audience who might have enjoyed the shallowness of handsome young soldiers behaving in the way they would like to think soldiers behaved when they walked in to a bar with pretty women in there.


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