No Man Is an Island (film)

No Man Is an Island is a 1962 war film about the exploits of George Ray Tweed, a United States Navy radioman who avoided capture and execution by the Japanese during their years-long World War II occupation of Guam. It stars Jeffrey Hunter as Tweed. The film was shot entirely in the Philippines and all the supporting actors spoke Tagalog rather than Chamorro, much to the amusement of Chamorros who saw it.

The film begins at an outpost with Tweed expecting to leave Guam to go back to mainland America. His replacement, Roy, arrives along with Vicente, a local. Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launch an air attack on Guam, and the resulting chaos kills both Vicente and Chief Schultz. The five remaining men run for the hills.

Meanwhile, the Japanese have obtained medical documents from the American prisoners and have discovered that five men are missing. The five escape an oncoming Japanese patrol with the help of a local man and his son. However, their escape is short lived. While crossing a swamp, Roy loses a shoe and then steps on a scorpion. While not killing him, the toxins make him too weak to walk, forcing the men to stay put. As another Japanese patrol comes, the men decide to hide Roy with some brush, and Tweed gives him a pistol, promising him that he'll "be back for the gun". However, rather than running away, Turney decides to try to convince Roy to surrender with him, saying that the Japanese will take care of Roy's foot and that no harm can come to them because they will be prisoners of war. Turney uses his white shirt to signal to the Japanese his surrender. However, he is promptly killed. Panicking, Roy kills a Japanese soldier with the pistol, but he is shortly thereafter killed by a grenade.

The three remaining men then stumble upon a copra plantation, where they meet Sus Quintagua, who promises to take them to his boss Santos, saying that he will know where they can hide. However, a plan to smuggle the Americans past the Japanese goes wrong when Chico is killed by a stray shot by a drunken Japanese officer into one of the carts. The officer lets the rest of the copra convoy go without searching it in exchange for Quintagua's bottle of coconut wine. Quintagua reveals that he has hidden an old radio, and the two Americans try to fix it. However, the battery runs out, and so, without Tweed knowing, Quintagua and Sonnenberg travel back to their abandoned jeep to get its battery. The Japanese then arrive at the village where Tweed is hiding. Tweed takes the radio with him, and Quintagua's wife shows him the way away from the village. They come upon the bound and beheaded bodies of Sonnenberg and Quintagua.