''The Raiders of Leyte Gulf'' is a 1963 Philippine-American war film directed by

Eddie Romero Edgar Sinco Romero, (July 7, 1924 – May 28, 2013), commonly known as Eddie Romero, was a Filipino film director, film producer and screenwriter. Early life Romero was born on July 7, 1924. His father was José E. Romero, the first Philipp ...

. It was the first film produced by the newly-formed Hemisphere Pictures, a three-way partnership involving Filipino director

, American producers

Kane W. Lynn Kane W. Lynn (1919–1975) was an American film producer who made a number of movies in the Philippines with producer Irwin Pizor and Filipino director Eddie Romero as Hemisphere Pictures, or the ''House of Horror'' as they often referred to them ...

and Irwin Pizor. It was written by Eddie Romero and Carl Kuntze

Synopsis

The film is set against the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II. An American spy, Emmett Wilson, is captured by the Japanese while making a reconnaissance of

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

in preparation for the planned American invasion of the island. When torture fails to loosen his tongue, his Japanese captors begin executing one Filipino citizen each day, until Wilson talks. Lieut. Robert Grimm parachutes into the forest held by the local Filipino resistance and persuades the guerrillas to attack the Japanese camp and rescue Wilson. But the rescue attempt fails, and as more innocent prisoners continue to die, Wilson decides to tell the vile Captain Akira what he wants to know. A Filipino citizen manages to shoot Wilson, suspecting him of collaborating with the enemy. Before Akira can regroup his forces, the guerrillas pull off a second rescue attempt, this one successful. As Wilson dies, he kills Akira with a bayonet, and the Japanese forces are smashed by the Filipinos, paving the way for General Douglas MacArthur's invasion forces.

Cast

Leopoldo Salcedo Leopoldo Salcedo (March 12, 1912 – June 11, 1998) was a Filipino film actor dubbed as "The Great Profile" who specialized in portraying dramatic heroes. Early life Salcedo was born in Cavite. His father was of Spanish descent whose family i ...

* Michael Parsons * Liza Moreno * Jennings Sturgeon *

Eddie Mesa Eduardo de Mesa Eigenmann (; born February 18, 1940), better known by his stage name Eddie Mesa (), is a Filipino retired actor and singer. He was discovered by talent agents when he sang a Sammy Davis song. Afterwards he changed his surname to ...

Efren Reyes Efren Manalang Reyes (born August 26, 1954), popularly known by the nickname "Bata" (English: "Kid"), is a Filipino professional pool player. Reyes is widely considered one of the greatest pool players of all time. A winner of over 100 inte ...

* Oscar Keesee

Promotion

The film did well overseas but did not make much money at all in the United States. Kane Lynn arranged a daring publicity stunt at a Texas drive-in theater in which a man would jump out of a plane and parachute down into the drive-in lot. A large crowd of people showed up to watch the stunt, but left the lot as soon as it was over without staying to see the film.Ray, Fred Olen (1991). "The New Poverty Row". McFarland and Co. Inc. . Page 65

References

External links

*
''Raiders of Leyte Gulf''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

1962 films Films directed by Eddie Romero Films shot in the Philippines Philippine World War II films Pacific War films 1962 war films 1960s English-language films English-language Philippine films {{Philippines-film-stub