MERRILL'S MARAUDERS: Blu-ray (Warner Bros. 1962) Warner Archive

The last film star, Jeff Chandler completed before his untimely death from botched back surgery, director Samuel Fuller’s Merrill’s Marauders (1962) is also something of a hand-me-down in the artistic department. Running a scant 98 minutes, it attempts to tell the real-life story of Brigadier Gen. Frank Merrill and his long-range special ops’ jungle warfare platoon of approximately 3000 men - named Unit Galahad – almost exclusively focusing on their first direct conflict with the Japanese in the south-east Asian theater of war at Walawabum. Chandler, already suffering from a horrific spinal herniation, thanks to some chest-thumping antics on the baseball diamond with U.S. Army Special Forces, completed the film under extreme physical duress and daily injections to see him through. His pain is noticeable throughout his performance, the hellish conditions of shooting in the Philippines exacerbating his discomfort. His untimely passing on June 17, 1961, age 42, was later deemed malpractice – a major artery ruptured during surgery, resulting in an epic transfusion of 75 pints of blood. Made independently as ‘A United States Productions Photoplay’, distributed by Warner Bros., with much of the budget eaten up by Fuller’s insistence to shoot on location in Warnerscope and Technicolor, the movie relies on a heavy-handed B&W prologue and voice-over narration to set the tone, with extensive stock footage excised from 1955’s Battle Cry to simulate the attack at Walawabum and stolen cues from Max Steiner's score for Operation Pacific (1951) and Franz Waxman's score for Objective, Burma! (1945) to augment composer, Howard Jackson’s title theme.

The real Frank Merrill led a gallant team of trained military through the dense Burmese jungles with 700 animals, that included 360 mules. The movie only documents one mule named Ella. Indeed, Fuller’s flick is the Cole’s Notes edition of Merrill’s detailed history, with wall-to-wall action and near monosyllabic dialogue to further discount the actual military intelligence that went into this complex and harrowing U.S. operation. The real Marauders entered the conflict in 1944, their forces equivalent to a regimental-size unit, but lacking organic heavy weapons support and relying almost exclusively on the element of surprise to outfox the outnumbered and far better equipped Japanese forces. On advice from British Gen. Orde Wingate, three battalions in six combat teams marched into Burma.  Living off of K-rations and suffering terrible losses in the field, but giving better than what they received, the Marauders were eventually victorious, having advanced some 750 miles through some of the most inhospitable jungle terrain, enduring famine, fever and plague and incurring nightmarish casualties (of the original 2,997 men, only 130 came home) though, not before Gen. Merrill himself was felled with a heart attack, and then, malaria that claimed his life.  For their sacrifices, Merrill’s Marauders were afforded a rare distinction: each soldier awarded the Bronze Star and a Distinguished Unit Citation for their ‘display’ of ‘gallantry, determination, and esprit de corps’.

Purchasing the rights to The Marauders in 1959, indie producer, Milton Sperling spent a little over a million to bring Merrill’s tale of valor to the screen, employing a cast of 1200, culled from the Philippine Armed Forces and American soldiers of the 1st U.S. Army Special Forces Group at Okinawa and Clark Air Force Base. Again, to keep costs tight, outside of Jeff Chandler’s participation, principle parts were filled with popular – and more economically procured – Warner Bros. TV contract stars, with three noteworthy stuntmen - Chuck Roberson, Jack Williams and Chuck Hicks. Due to bad weather, Fuller went over his initial 41-day schedule by 6 days; a forgivable – if costly – sin, given the brutal working conditions.  The end result, alas, was not to Fuller’s liking. In early 1961, Sperling approached Fuller to begin writing the picture under its working title, ‘The Marauders.’  Fuller, then in hot pursuit of his ‘dream project’ – The Big Red One, turned Sperling down. Only after Jack L. Warner suggested to Fuller that Merrill's Marauders could be considered his ‘dry run’ for The Big Red One, did Fuller acquiesce to the deal. Fuller had hoped to cast Gary Cooper. Alas, Coop’s health was already in steep decline. His death shortly thereafter put a period to those plans. So, Fuller turned to Universal for the loan-out of Jeff Chandler, with whom he had been greatly impressed. Indeed, by 1962, Chandler’s star had risen from the ashes of a conventional – if platinum-haired - hunk du jour who could also act.  

The picture opens with a dedicated B&W prologue and voice-over narration to set the tone, time and events about to unfold. The year is 1944, and Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill’s 5307th Composite Unit (a.k.a. Merrill’s Marauders), is already entrenched behind Japanese lines, enduring the inhospitable heat and swampy conditions of the Burmese bush. Fuller’s direction is all about showing the hellish abuse, yet steely resolve of Merrill and his 3,000-strong army, plagued by extreme fatigue, low morale, fever and disease, and, malnourishment under the strictest of rations. Merrill receives word from his aide-de-camp, Bannister (Vaughan Wilson – actually Lt. Col. Samuel Wilson – a real member of the real Marauders). They have been ordered to capture a gun emplacement, enemy arsenal, and railway yard in Walawabum. Marking their way through the dense foliage, Merrill and his men - 2nd Lt. Lee Stockton (Ty Hardin), Bullseye (Peter Brown), Capt. Abraham Lewis Kolodny (Andrew Duggan), Chowhound (Will Hutchins), Sgt. Kolowicz (Claude Akins), Cpl. Doskis (Chuck Hicks) and Muley (Charles Briggs) must take refuge from enemy surveillance aircraft, and engage the hidden threats of heavily camouflaged enemy fire on an almost ‘routine’ basis; although there is certainly nothing ‘routine’ about their violent encounters – using smoke pots to create a diversion while they annihilate the much better fortified Japanese.

Time is of the essence. Merrill knows his men have been withered by lack of food and sleep. But Gen. Joseph Stilwell (John Hoyt) insists they must cross the 500 miles into Myitkyina – along with a British force – in order to prevent the rapidly advancing Japanese and German armies from merging into one impenetrable force in India. Mercilessly, Merrill orders his men to pick up their gear and proceed once more into the perilous jungle from whence they have only just emerged. Not long thereafter, felled by a shortness of breath, Merrill is examined by Kolodny in the field, who also happens to be the team’s medic. Kolodny is not so easily fooled by Merrill’s brave front. He is suffering from numbness in his arms, night sweats and chest pains; the precursors for a heart attack. Merrill confides he was treated in a Tokyo hospital three years before for coronary thrombosis. Barely living on the scant ratios provided to them, Chowhound’s attempt to steal food while the others sleep is intercepted by Muley – the two engaging in a fight until Kolowicz breaks up their skirmish. The men advance and are engaged in another hellish battle at Shaduzup, navigating their way through a perilous maze of triangular concrete blocks in a rail yard. Aside: originally, this sequence was designed by Fuller as one continuous tracking shot, to punctuate the point how the enemy had fooled the men into firing at each other. Alas, when the picture’s rough cut was pre-screened for the U.S. Army, they took considerable umbrage with the overall tone of the picture, but particularly the Shaduzup maze sequence. The studio balked, claiming Fuller had been ‘too artistic’ in his endeavors, and had a second unit director re-shoot the sequence with inserted close-ups to muddle the self-destructive nature of the attack, and, without Fuller’s consent.

After the battle at Shaduzup, the men regroup at a nearby village. Stockton befriends a Burmese girl (Luz Valdez) wounded by wayward shrapnel. In what is likely the most tender moment in the picture, Stockton coaxes the tearful and silent girl into his arms, gingerly handing her over to the doctor to remove the bullet fragments from her leg. Incidentally, Ty Hardin, who played Stockton did not get on at all with either Jeff Chandler or his director. Meanwhile, in another part of the village, Kolowicz suffers a momentary emotional breakdown when shown kindness by an aged Burmese woman and young boy – the pair, encouraging him to eat a bowl of newly prepared rice. Inspecting the integrity of his outfit, Merrill discovers the emotional state of many of his men is deeply frazzled. Bullseye and Stockton get into a confrontation; Stockton eventually knocking some sense back into his cohort. However, Stockton too begins to have his doubts about their mission. He accuses Merrill of being ego-driven, regarding the men as merely two good hands to fire a rifle. ‘Respectfully’, Stockton asks to be relieved of his command and have his platoon stand down from the looming battle. Merrill denies this request. There is no other way except forward. So, the men advance toward Myitkyina.  After assuming the load for his beloved, but enfeebled pack mule, Ella to spare her life, Muley dies along the open road, given out by extreme exhaustion. Another confrontation with Japanese forces thoroughly cripples the Marauders. As predicted, Merrill’s own heart gives out. Suffering a seizure and unable to complete the mission, even as he stubbornly arises from his stretcher to urge the men to go on, Merrill’s unconscious collapse serves as inspiration. Stockton rallies the men for the last length of their brutal campaign. As Merrill stirs, he is informed that fresh troops and supplies have landing at Myitkyina airfield, liberated by the Marauders. The movie ends with a flourish of the army’s finest – pressed and dressed and on parade; the narrator, reinforcing a flag-waving message of victory.

Samuel Fuller was deeply unhappy with this tacked-on finale. Fighting the studio tooth and nail, he was unsuccessful at having his way with the final cut. Worse for Fuller, Warner Bros. reneged on their offer to fund The Big Red One. It would take another eighteen years for Fuller to make that picture – and again, rather predictably, the final cut veered far off the mark of his original intent.  Merrill's Marauders was both a critical and financial success. Interestingly, it was also Warner’s last movie shot in Cinemascope, and one of the final movies to receive a Dell Comics tie-in. Viewed today, Merrill's Marauders really ought to have been a better picture - a bigger one, for sure. After all, there is a lot of meat on the bones of Frank Merrill's legacy. Regrettably, Fuller hasn't the time or budget to give us anything but a thumbnail sketch of the man and his men. After the main titles we are catapulted into the first of many action ‘set pieces’, complete with hand grenades, bombs and machine-gun fire racking up the body count. With its re-purposed footage and cues, its lack of star power - outside of Jeff Chandler's frequently grimaced and grunting commander - the movie intermittently suffers from an inflated sense of self - a would-be epic, given short shrift with wall-to-wall violence, meant to sober, but actually anesthetizing the audience to the realities of war. Ironically, the story seems to take a lot longer than 89 min. to unfold. The Fuller/Sperling screenplay does not allow for camaraderie – only conflict - between these fighting men. To be fair, at 89 min. there isn't any time for anything else. So, what we have is a platoon of clean-cut Hollywood types, hair mussed, faces unshaven and artistically spritzed with ‘character-building’ mud and grit, but ultimately cardboard cutouts, who rarely distinguish themselves via dialogue – which is sparse – nor strike the indelible chord with their less than affecting personalities. 

Fuller is an expert at staging action. But too much of a good thing is still too much, and Merrill's Marauders quickly devolves into basically one on-going confrontation with snippets of dialogue inserted to suggest 'communication' was at least an afterthought, or, in this case, the truncated and perfunctory transition from scene to scene, or day to night fades and dissolves. Clothier's Cinemascope/Technicolor cinematography is expertly matched to the aforementioned stock scenes pilfered wholesale from The Naked and the Dead. Alas, the public has paid to see Merrill's Marauders kick some healthy butt; not a reboot/re-edit of footage they might have already experienced in the aforementioned movie, no matter how skillfully stitched into the current plot and action by Fuller and his editor, Folmer Blangsted. In the last analysis, Merrill's Marauders falls short of expectations. Fuller would likely have blamed the studio for this. But mostly, the movie is Fuller’s vision – and it pales to his best work done elsewhere. We would have sincerely wished for better as Jeff Chandler's swan song to the movies. Then again, I don't suppose Chandler had any idea at the time, this would be his farewell to the picture-making biz.

Merrill's Marauders arrives on Blu-ray via the Warner Archive (WAC). All of the usual bells and whistles have been applied here and the results are crisp and refined, with stunningly handsome Technicolor hues, of which 'green' is the dominant palette, with appropriately sun-kissed/burnt orange faces and bodies, expertly lit by Clothier. The main titles are slightly problematic, with film grain appearing clumpy and main titles that slightly shimmer as though to be suffering from Technicolor mis-registration problems even though the 3-strip process had long been abandoned by this time. Otherwise, there is really nothing to complain about here: solid, stabilized image, with exceptional contrast, rich hues, a light smattering of film grain looking indigenous to its source. The DTS mono mix is adequate and in keeping with the original theatrical release, with crisp-sounding dialogue and SFX perfectly integrated. The one regret is the movie never received an audio commentary. So, no extras – a rarity on a WAC release these days, but in keeping with the studio’s edict to wisely spend their money and time on remastering integrity for the main feature.  Well done! Another winner. Bottom line: recommended.

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

3.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

4.5

EXTRAS

0