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    Guadalcanal Diary

    20th Century Fox/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 89 mins . PG . PAL

      Feature
    Contract

    Do you love those old Saturday afternoon black and white Hollywood war flicks full of fresh-face, clean-cut, all-American boys learning how to be men, shooting Japanese or Nazis, and occasionally writing to their girls or their Mommas back home? If so, have we got a DVD for you?!

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    "Singing in the rain..."

    Guadalcanal is in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. It is your typical tropical paradise, unless you happened to have been there during World War II. At that time, 1942, the US forces were attempting to get a stranglehold in the Pacific, and were determined to win the war against the Japanese Imperial forces. The landing, or invasion if you will, was dramatic and cost thousands of lives. Of the men that managed to stay out of the way of Japanese bullets, there was still disease to beat, a personal battle that many lost.

    Guadalcanal Diary is based on the book of the same name by Richard Tregaskis and tells the story of the invasion by following the lives of some of the men and boys that landed on the island full of sass, courage and a determination to rid the island of the Japanese.

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    How cosy.

    The landing appears to go without a hitch, and the Japanese camp appears deserted in a hurry. Of course, in war nothing is that simple and the Japanese put up more resistance than expected. Resorting to camouflage, snipers and ambushing, the Japanese manage to take out almost 2000 of the American Marines. The story is then a simple matter of attack, counter attack and tactics and manoeuvres. History (and the movie) will record that the invasion was ultimately a success, but what isn’t acknowledged is the lack of real preparation and over-confidence that seems to plague the US to this day.

    As for the film, well there’s plenty of what you’d expect except perhaps for big name stars (only Anthony Quinn is likely to be a familiar face). There are lots of marines, guns, planes, letters from home, wise-cracking, bravado, sandbags, foxholes and hand grenades.

    Five things you will learn from this film are;

    1.) All Japanese soldiers are evil and deserve to be killed.

    2.) American soldiers are much better shots than the Japanese.

    3.) Japanese actors have appalling ‘death scene’ skills.

    4.) Japanese soldiers do not talk.

    5.) Guadalcanal locals look suspiciously like black Americans in fuzzy wigs.

    When it is raining outside on some dreary weekend afternoon, throw this DVD on for a touch of 1943 Hollywood and remember how far war movies have come.

      Video
    Contract

    Keeping in mind that this is a film that's over 60 years of age and on the whole there are no unexpected nasties. It is a black and white film presented in full frame format which closely matches the original ratio, so no points off there. The film includes some stock war footage that stands out from the filmed footage like a bad Japanese actor on a small Pacific island. Blacks look good and deep with minimal noise, but whites look like something from a washing detergent commercial – they are bordering on blinding at times.

    Artefacts-wise, sure there's some flecks and dirt throughout, but nothing too severe. The same can’t be said of the inserted footage, however. The image maintains a fairly decent level of clarity, but grain is a minor constant throughout.

    From a modern point of view, there is some irregular shimmer but nothing of real concern. There are also some pretty obvious overlays used, and if you look closely you will see a few glitches as the film jumps, stops and stutters occasionally. If you look even closer, you will see the same piece of footage used at times when a Japanese sniper is shot. I guess Japanese extras may have been pretty bad actors, but still felt able to ask for big pay packets that were not in the budget. Still this was made in war-time, and most Japanese really were in the Pacific shooting back for real (and not required to prove themselves as actors either).

      Audio
    Contract

    There is nothing inherently wrong with the audio transfer, but for a film this old that should come as no surprise. There is nothing outstanding about the audio and it performs as good as any Dolby Digital mono track is going to. Volume, clarity and synchronisation are good, there is minimal background hiss, nothing in the way of separation, but in general it scrubs up as being perfectly pedestrian.

    There are some rousing tunes sprinkled throughout as the men get a bit stirred up and patriotic, but when they start to sound like some en masse men’s choir in perfect synch with intricate harmonies and stirring delivery, well let’s just say that it does not sound too real. Anybody who watches post-match AFL broadcasts from the locker room of the winning team knows what it sounds like when most men attempt to sing in unison and in tune!

      Extras
    Contract

    The only extras are the ones playing Japanese or Guadalcanal locals and there has been enough said about them already!

      Overall  
    Contract

    It’s black and white and it’s full of stereotypes and clichéd characters. There are witty and valiant Americans fighting hapless Japanese who have no idea how to shoot straight and lots of guns, hand grenades, planes and trucks. So if that’s your thing, you’re in luck. It’s no Saving Private Ryan, but it won’t take as long to watch either.


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      And I quote...
    "A better than average war flick from the ‘40s…"
    - Terry Kemp
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Akai
    • TV:
          TEAC CT-F803 80cm Super Flat Screen
    • Receiver:
          Pioneer VSX-D409
    • Speakers:
          Wellings
    • Centre Speaker:
          Wellings
    • Surrounds:
          Wellings
    • Subwoofer:
          Sherwood SP 210W
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
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