I have seen this movie about a dozen times on TV since I was a wee lad, way before DVR. So, while watching it again on TCM the other night in the scene where the gals are taking a recreational swim - just before they are attacked by an enemy plane (why the enemy wasted ammo on a bunch of bathing beauties is beyond me), Ella Raines appears to have a wardrobe malfunction with her bathing suit top. I re-played the scene several times on DVR and there is definitely some naked right boobage. Connie(Raines) gets shot and killed at the end of the scene. Janet Jackson got off easy. How this scene made it past the censors of the era is amazing.

Like I said, any film with Margaret in it is going to give some viewer satisfaction, but this otherwise potentially great film has an insurmountable flaw for me. I refer to the ridiculous "eternal triangle" romantic sub plot involving "Lt. Mary Smith", her non-regulation husband, and one of the volunteer women. If you haven't seen the film, I won't tell you which, despite checking the spoiler box. Probably this silly business was in the original play, but if it wasn't, then Hollywood owes an apology to the movie going public for spoiling this tribute to the nurses and volunteers who served on Bataan in the early days of the Pacific Theatre of War, circa 1941-1942. If you could edit out the foolishness, this would no doubt be a very accurate picture of conditions facing the wounded soldiers and the women and doctors who tried to care for them. I don't know whether the Japanese deliberately bombed hospitals and aid stations, but there is plenty of evidence that such bombings occurred, accidentally or otherwise. Indeed, our own pilots were not completely innocent of such mistakes in various wars. Sometimes non-combatant establishments are poorly identified, but it is pointless to argue these points. War really is Hell, you know.Well, for the good part of the film, we have 13 fine actresses (14 if you include uncredited Anna Q. Nilsson; it might be fun trying to spot her among the "nurses") of various ages from young to middle-aged. Emphasis is on Margaret Sullavan, Marsha Hunt and Fay Bainter for the serious aspects, and on Ann Sothern and Joan Blondell for what Hollywood no doubt regarded as humorous and "romantic" relief. None of them disappoint. You could look on the basic story as "Greek Tragedy", for the fate of Bataan is fore-ordained from the outset. The Japanese are going to win this one for the time being, and the nurses are headed for imprisonment. I hope what another commentator has said about their receiving good treatment is true. It would be one bright spot in the record of treatment of POW personnel by the Japanese in World War II.

I agree with almost all of the comments above, except in one important aspect. In calling "So Proudly We Hail" 'superior' to "Cry Havoc," the writer overlooks the fact that, as in most Golden Era films, women's stories were almost exclusively told in relation to their romantic relationships with men. What hobbles "So Proudly We Hail" (and it is a terrific film, don't get me wrong), is its constant undercutting the challenges and dangers faced by WWII American nurses in the Pacific by shifting the characters' priorities to romance. That detail is handled very nicely in "Cry Havoc" by having almost no men appear. "Smitty" and "Pat" face off over a man, sure, but we never see him and so it becomes a greater conflict about command, duty, subordinating oneself to the greater good etc. And face it, as wonderful as films from this era are, its all too rare (then and now!) that those kind of issues are presented as significant to women. So in some ways, although "Havoc" could be considered more static and talky (from its stage origins, as mentioned above), I find it "better" than "Proudly," because I feel it lets the women stand front and center -- and stay there. Enjoy this rarely seen film!

'Cry Havoc' is Richard Thorp's 1943 film about the courageous women Army nurses and volunteers on Bataan during WWII. The film suffers a bit from showing it's stage origins, but offers a terrific ensemble cast of actresses, all giving top-notch performances.Margaret Sullavan is wonderful as Lt. Smith, an Army nurse secretly married against the rules to an officer on Bataan. She is suffering from malignant malaria, but refuses to leave Bataan for treatment, wanting to be near her husband, but also unwilling to desert the overworked nurses and volunteers. Sullavan was always great at suffering nobly on film (as in 'Three Comrades,' 1938), and again gives a beautiful, moving performance as the dedicated nurse, keeping both her marriage and illness to herself.Ann Sothern and Joan Blondell share top billing with Sullavan and give terrific support as two of the volunteers. Blondell is funny as the former Vaudeville performer who entertains the other women with a demonstration of her old striptease act. And Ann Sothern, who was sooooooo beautiful, is marvelous as the tough, straight-talking waitress with her sights set on an Army officer, unaware he's Sullavan's husband.The supporting cast includes Fay Bainter, Marsha Hunt, Ella Raines, Heather Angel and Connie Gilcrest, all excellent, and a bit by young Robert Mitchum as a dying soldier.Not a classic WWII film, but recommended for fans of the actresses.