The Pied Piper Of Saipan

bkoganbing

It's not the exact true story of Marine Private Guy Gabaldon that you see in Hell To Eternity, but you've got enough of the story to appreciate what a remarkable thing he did at the Battle of Saipan. Something was left out and something was added in for box office.

What was left out was Gabaldon's Mexican background, presumably you were supposed to guess that from the name. An Anglo kid, Richard Eyer plays him as a juvenile and later Jeffrey Hunter as an adult. I think the impact might have been so much greater had an actor like Perry Lopez taken the part. If the story were done today, you can be sure a Latino actor would be in the role.

What is true is that as a kid Gabaldon is taken as a foster child and raised by a Japanese American family, learning the customs and language in the best of schools. Even though initially rejected by his draft board, his language skills got him into the Marines.

I'm betting that the good folks at Allied Artists decided just the story of what Gabaldon did on Saipan was not good enough to insure box office, so a sex angle was thrown in. Before the battle we see Hunter and buddies David Janssen and Vic Damone on leave in Hawaii where they meet up with sexpot Patricia Owens. Owens is first an uptight war correspondent, later with a few drinks she steams up the screen with her seductive ways. I well remember as a lad, the ads for Hell To Eternity were all about her character to make sure folks plunked down their money to see this film.

As if Gabaldon's Sergeant York like heroics weren't enough. His upbringing enabled Gabaldon to communicate with the Japanese and save a few hundred lives, a lot of them women and children. The Japanese had been fed a steady diet of what to expect from American capture, a lot of that inspired no doubt by what they did with their prisoners.

When Gabaldon brought in his charges, his commanding officer immediately dubbed him the Pied Piper of Saipan and the nickname stuck the rest of his life.

Despite having the wrong background Jeffrey Hunter delivers a fine performance. Also take note of the part Sessue Hayakawa plays as the Japanese general. They even had the same last name as his character in The Bridge On The River Kwai. Imagine Colonel Saito the commandant in combat in Saipan and you have some idea of his role.

The film also deals with the fact that Gabaldon's foster family was interred as many Japanese Americans were, Hell To Eternity was one of the first films dealing with that issue. One of his foster brothers is played by a young George Takei and he fought with the Nisei division in Italy.

Despite the steamy sex angle, Hell To Eternity is a good enough war film without it and a real tribute to a genuine American hero. And a hero who saved lives rather than took them.

score 8/10

bkoganbing 18 December 2008

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1991868/