Halls of Montezuma

Halls of Montezuma is a 1951 World War II war film starring Richard Widmark, Jack Palance and Karl Malden. The film, which is about U.S. marines fighting on a Japanese-held island, was directed by academy-award winner Lewis Milestone. It also starred Robert Wagner in his first credited screen role. Real color combat footage from the war in the Pacific was incorporated into the film's cinematography. The film, like Darryl F. Zanuck's 1949 production Sands of Iwo Jima, was filmed on location at Camp Pendleton, California, with the full cooperation of the USMC. Its title is a reference to the... opening line from the Marines' Hymn. During World War II, a Marine battalion prepares to land on a large Japanese-held island in the Pacific. Lieutenant Colonel Gilfillan warns the men that it will be a tough mission, and that they have been ordered to take prisoners in order to gain information about the Japanese fortifications. Below deck, veteran Lieutenant Carl A. Anderson , a chemistry teacher in civilian life, questions his former student, Corporal Stuart Conroy , who complains that he is ill and cannot fight.
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