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Back to Bataan (RKO Radio), produced with Army & Navy cooperation, is a straightforward, unsentimental, stirring tribute to the Philippine guerrillas who kept on fighting Japs after the American surrender. The story, which begins with the U.S. Army's defeat on Bataan and ends with its victorious return, is based on actual characters and events. Between defeat and victory the guerrillas, under the command of a U.S. Army colonel (John Wayne), blow up oil fields, steal enemy supplies and finally, on Dday, dynamite a bridge, blockade a road and hold off the Japs until the Army arrives,
In a warm portrayal of the Filipinos, the picture lends lustre to their loyalty by making no secret of their frequent misgivings. But convincing as the story is, the picture is at its best in the faked but grimly realistic battle scenes. In one sequence, outnumbered U.S. and Philippine defenders mow down Japs by the hundred as they try to cross a barbed-wire fence. Best shot: a body, which turns out to be Colonel Wayne, spun, twisted and tossed several feet in the air by the concussion of an exploding shell.