Cry Havoc was based on a play by Allan Kenward which the Shuberts produced on Broadway and ran for a grand total of 11 performances over the Christmas/New Year's days of 1942-43. But what flops on Broadway can sometimes be a great success on screen and vice versa. In this case the subject matter had already been thoroughly covered in the Paramount film So Proudly We Hail and Cry Havoc runs a distinct second to that film. Like the Paramount film, Cry Havoc deals with nurses in the Phillipines after Pearl Harbor and their experiences during the Japanese attack.Margaret Sullavan was fulfilling the terms of an MGM contract with this movie. Afterwards she would concentrate on the stage and would only do one more film years later, No Sad Songs For Me. She plays the no nonsense army nurse with several new charges rushed up to the Bataan front among them Joan Blondell and Ann Sothern. Fay Bainter played Sullavan's superior and she also was winding up her MGM contract as well.There are no substantial male roles in this film, they're seen briefly in fighting roles and of course as casualties. If you don't blink you'll see Robert Mitchum utter a couple of words and then die. Sullavan and Sothern have a rivalry going over an unseen army lieutenant.In fact on the set they had a rivalry going as well. According to a recent biography of Margaret Sullavan, she and Sothern did not get along so their scenes together had some real bite. Sullavan felt that Sothern was slipping into her popular Maisie character for which she was doing a B picture series for MGM. Cry Havoc should be seen because anything that has Margaret Sullavan should be seen as she left us way too few films for posterity. But this really is quite inferior to So Proudly We Hail.

Needless to say, this war-time drama is gritty every step of the way.The big surprise here is the toughness of the part given to Ann Sothern.She certainly sheds her "Panama Hattie" way as well as comedic gifts in giving a very good performance as a no-nonsense volunteer among a group of women volunteering their services in Bataan during World War 11. She finds love with a Sgt. Holt, who is never seen. He is also the love interest of Margaret Sullavan, who plays her usual moody self. This part was perfect for Sullavan who would commit suicide 17 years later.Joan Blondell, as always, is wonderful as the volunteer who was a burlesque queen prior to the war. Being shot in the leg is certainly no asset for this beauty queen and she plays the part to the hilt.The somber scenery, basically in a bunker, reflects the dangers that these women endured.

This was a great WW II film which supported the war effort in America as we were fighting Japan and Germany, huge evil threats to the world. This story revolves around some new nurses who have to experience bombing raids as they are about to eat their evening meals. Ann Southern, (Pat Conlin), Joan Blondell (Grace), Ella Raines (Connie Booth) and Marsha Hunt,(Flo Norris) "Chloe's Prayer",'05. All of these women had great careers in Hollywood, some were just character actresses like Marsha Hunt, who had a cute turned up nose and simply never got the man she fell in love with. During the Joseph McCarthy Era, when McCarthy was investigating actors for being associated with the Communist party, Marsha Hunt was placed on his Black List, which turned out to be a false story. This film is a definite look back at the past and the opportunity to see great actors just starting their careers on the Silver Screen in Hollywood.

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.