So Proudly We Hail! is a 1943 World War II film directed by Mark Sandrich, starring Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, and Veronica Lake.
It follows several U.S. military nurses, including Lt. Janet "Davy" Davidson (Colbert), Lt. Joan O’Doul (Goddard), and Lt. Olivia D'Arcy (Lake), as they survive or die alongside the soldiers they bravely try to ease out of pain or help to die as peacefully as possible.
The nurses begin their service by heading to Hawaii; that trip is circumvented by the surprise Japanese attack on that fateful day in December 1941. Soon afterward, the women are rerouted to the Philippines, where they witness the horrors of war in the Pacific Theatre.
Compare Cry 'Havoc', another 1943 film about American military nurses involved in the doomed defense of Bataan.
Tropes:
- Action Bomb: Oliva decides to help her trapped nurses by becoming this.
- Anyone Can Die: Various nurses who we've grown accustomed to seeing die tragically.
- Chromosome Casting: The majority of all the screen time goes to the women, but there are some men sprinkled around for romance.
- Crisis Point Hospital: The film takes place in the various military hospitals the women are assigned to.
- Cry into Chest: Olivia cries into Davy's chest when she finally opens up about her fiancée getting killed in front of her at Pearl Harbor.
- Deadpan Snarker: Joan, especially if Kansas is around to make fun of.
- A Father to His Men: Davy is the one who keeps the morale of the women up. However, when she thinks John is dead and she has to leave him behind in the Philippines, she's left almost catatonic.
- The Film of the Book: Adapted from the nonfiction book I Served on Bataan, written by real-life U.S. Army nurse Juanita Redmond.
- Flashback: The film is told in total flashback after the women have been rescued to Australia.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: When Davy learns Olivia has volunteered to treat wounded Japanese prisoners, she's afraid she's going to have to tell Olivia this (see Cry into Chest below). When Davy gets to the wounded prisoner tent, however, she discovers Olivia crying and admitting she couldn't bring herself to kill anyone.
- Jerkass: Olivia comes off this way at first to the other nurses, but it turns out she's been having a Heroic BSoD ever since she saw her fiancée get killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
- Letting Her Hair Down: Zigzagged - Olivia, who wears her hair up most of the time she's on-screen, lets her hair down only when she decides to become an Action Bomb.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: The last shot of the film pans to the sky and the nurses reading out a letter from John, whose future is uncertain.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Kansas. Joan probably doesn't even know his real name.
- Outliving One's Offspring: "Mother", Davy's superior officer, has a song in the army, and he gets mortally wounded in action, which sends her into a Heroic BSoD.
- Really Gets Around: Joan, who apparently had promised two guys she's marry them before shipping off, gets a number of love letters, and still finds time to flirt with Kansas.
- Shout-Out: Joan tells Philippine children stories about Superman.
- Tap on the Head: When Joan tries to get Kansas to get on a canoe with children they're trying to evacuate, he refuses. She tells Kansas to close his eyes because she's going to kiss him goodbye. Instead, she picks up a rock and uses it to knock him into the canoe.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Davy, when she gets off the plane. It's because she doesn't know if John is dead or not.
- Titled After the Song: From "The Star-Spangled Banner", which plays over the opening credits.
- Tomboyish Name: Major Davy.
