Guadalcanal Diary **** (1943, Preston Foster, Lloyd Nolan, William Bendix, Richard Conte, Anthony Quinn, Richard Jaeckel) – Classic Movie Review 13,842  

The 1943 black and white war film Guadalcanal Diary tells of the fight of the US Marines in the 1942 Battle of Guadalcanal, and stars Preston Foster, Lloyd Nolan, William Bendix, Richard Conte, and Anthony Quinn.

Director Lewis Seiler’s 1943 20th Century Fox American black and white war film Guadalcanal Diary is based on the book by Richard Tregaskis, and stars Preston Foster, Lloyd Nolan, William Bendix, Richard Conte, Anthony Quinn, Richard Jaeckel, and Roy Roberts. The film recounts the fight of the US Marines in the 1942 Battle of Guadalcanal.

Guadalcanal Diary is an above-par, character-driven flag-waving World War Two action movie, in which the US Marines arrive on the Solomon Islands’ beaches and hit the Japanese. But the Marines walk into a trap.

What makes it special is that there is an involving and intelligent script with a sharp whiff of the harsh facts of war, courtesy the source book by Richard Tregaskis, and stalwart handling from director Lewis Seiler. It is surprisingly downbeat, realist and truthful, with a carefully nurtured and delivered documentary style. Patriotic and pro-war it may be, but it never shrinks from the difficult truths on its determined way to being a World War Two morale booster. And now the film itself is a valuable document of its time.

Plus, there is outstanding playing from a varied selection of welcome idiosyncratic performers – Preston Foster as the chaplain Father Donnelly, Lloyd Nolan as the Gunnery Sergeant Hook Malone, William Bendix as the cabbie turned Corporal Aloysius ‘Taxi’ Potts, Richard Conte as Captain Don Davis, Richard Jaeckel as Private Johnny ‘Chicken’ Anderson, Roy Roberts as Captain James Cross, and Mexico’s Anthony Quinn cast as a Mexican for a change – Private Jesus ‘Soose’ Alvarez.

[Spoiler alert]  The Battle of Guadalcanal took place only a year before the movie’s release. The screenplay by Lamar Trotti and Jerome Cady is based partly on the experiences of surviving Marines from the ill-fated Goettge patrol during the July 1942 Battle of Guadalcanal. Captain James Cross (Roy Roberts) represents the patrol’s leader, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Goettge, who was killed. Private Soose Alvarez, the lone surviving Marine in the movie’s patrol, is based on Sergeant Frank Few.

It was shot from 14 May 1943 to late July 1943, mostly on location at Camp Pendleton, near Oceanside, California. US Marines stationed there were filmed on manoeuvres, and others appear in small speaking parts or as extras.

Release date: 5 November 1943 (US).

Cast: Preston Foster, Lloyd Nolan, William Bendix, Richard Conte, Anthony Quinn, Richard Jaeckel, Roy Roberts, Minor Watson, Ralph Byrd, Lionel Stander, Reed Hadley, John Archer, Eddie Acuff, Harry Carter, George Holmes, Selmer Jackson, Miles Mander, Warren Ashe, Tom Dawson, Larry Thompson, Robert Rose, David Peters, Jack Luden, Walter Fenner, Louis Hart, Russell Hoyt.

Guadalcanal Diary is directed by Lewis Seiler, runs 93 minutes, is made and released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Lamar Trotti and Jerome Cady, is shot in black and white by Charles G Clarke, is produced by Bryan Foy and Islin Auster, is scored by David Buttolph, and is designed by Leland Fuller.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 13,842

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