As a slice of cinematic history, this film is worth watching. It was clear to me that it must have been written, and production largely completed before December 7, 1941. I'd like to see if there is any historical evidence of this.There was no reference in the film to the global conflict in which Europe and Asia were involved at the time until the last minutes of the film. I wonder how the original script ended? Most shocking is the brief shot at the end during the final marching parade where an older Asian man is shown cheering the marines as they march on by. The man is replete with "Foomanchoo" mustache and holding a sign saying "Me Chinese" while waiving a small American flag. Rarely was Hollywood so blatantly racist.The early Technicolor looks colorized by today's standards and yet beautiful for its time. I could have done without the endless marching and parade grounds scenes which took over most of the movie.

TO THE SHORES OF TRIPOLI sounds like the title of an action packed war movie; not exactly what you get. A cocky young son of an officer, Chris Winter(John Payne)shamelessly joins the Marine Corps with the attitude of entering a country club. A tough-as-nails drill sergeant Dixie Smith(Randolph Scott)does his best to whip the rich boy into a legitimate and worthy Marine. Love interest Maureen O'Hara is a solid highlight. This movie was partially filmed in Hawaii just before the Pearl Harbor "sucker punch". Cinematography earned an Oscar nomination. This WWII entry from 20th Century Fox has a strong supporting cast featuring: John Hamilton, Nancy Kelly, William Tracy, Henry Morgan, Alan Hale, Jr., Russel Hicks and Charles Tannen.

PEARL HARBOR seems to have borrowed elements of its plotline from TO THE SHORES OF TRIPOLI--only this time the cocky hero with plenty of attitude is JOHN PAYNE and the Navy nurse he falls in love with is MAUREEN O'HARA. The scene where she gets even with him in the dispensary is reminiscent of the much more graphic event in PEARL HARBOR's early courtship scene.Anyway, as patriotic flag-waving recruitment films go, this one is typical of what the public clamored for during World War II. I'm sure the stirring drill scenes and dress parade moments, combined with stirring soundtrack music, were geared to get marine enlistments into high gear. And maybe they succeeded.Having put in some military years at the San Diego Naval base, much of the background looks achingly familiar to me. All of the location scenes at the military base have the requisite real flavor while the story itself is the timeless cliche about the spoiled rich boy who is given the rough treatment by a sergeant who wants to turn him into a tough marine. Naturally the over confident military brat becomes a hero in time to rescue his sergeant during a mine sweeping operation--and in time to ensure a happy ending for his romance with nurse O'Hara.JOHN PAYNE is at his best as the cocky young marine, his left eyebrow getting its usual workout as he seeks to outmanouver everyone in his path. He also gets to show off his splendid physique in the scene where hot-tempered O'Hara plays a dirty trick on him. RANDOLPH SCOTT is excellent as the drill sergeant and others in the cast are up to par--including NANCY KELLY in a rather thankless assignment as "the other woman".MAUREEN O'HARA is stunning in technicolor but, as usual, has virtually little to do aside from looking gorgeous in a number of close-ups. Her role is typical of the many innocuous cardboard heroines she had to play in the '40s.Summing up: Nice marine recruitment film, if a bit obvious in its patriotism.

This is probably John Payne's best vehicle. He plays the rugged individualist Pvt Chris Winters, an upstart booted from Culver who enlists in the marines, not coincidentally in the unit headed by his father's old officer buddy who not also coincidentally saved his life. Funny things start happening right away. First his girlfriend who he joined to get away from's father is the CO, so she always gets letters excusing him from duty to be with her. Ugh. Next Chris falls head over heels for beautiful 2nd Lieut Mary Carter, a cold nurse who quickly melts when he will stop at nothing to get near her, immediately feigning hit by a military truck to land him in the infirmary. She teaches him a hilarious but painful lesson, yet he is still determined. Then it gets serious when they're assigned C school duty and are called to "war games" at sea which consists of going into a mine field, where Chris' Sgt Dixie Smith played by Randolph Scott gets knocked out and is in grave danger of being blown up. Chris takes a boat from the sweeper and singlehandedly rescues him, returning to a heroes welcome. He has won over Mary, but gets angry because he is so principled and it is killing his spirit. Mary says goodbye, and he goes with his girlfriend to a cushy desk job in Washington, only in the car listening to the radio he hears that the Japanese have just bombed Pearl Harbor. His unit happens to be parading by on their way to war, so he leaps out and changes back from suit to uniform hiding among the ranks. That is humorous too. The final scene is the ship leaving the harbor with Mary in Chris' arms and everyone singing the Marine Hymn, "From the Halls of Montezuma!...", and you know the rest! Pick up a copy today!