| Description |
A short Paramount Pictures film made in collaboration with the U.S. Office of War Information. Two American soldiers are in the jungles of Bataan when a bomb drops, killing one of the soldiers, and wounding the other. Johnny eventually dies of his wounds, but not before composing the eponymous letter, begging those back home to ration and conserve, as he and his comrade died in the jungle without the materials and food they needed. The film ends with an extended plea for rationing and salvage in order to aid the war effort and protect American soldiers. The narrator explains that rubber, steel, shellac from records, packaged foods, and kitchen fat for explosives, are some of the resources that can be utilized by the military. "In the jungles of Bataan two American soldiers, victims of night blindness, are hit by a Jap bomb. Pete is killed outright; as Johnny dies on the operation table, his last words are, 'I've got to write a letter.' Johnny's 'letter' is a plea to the folks at home to see to it that other American soldiers have the things he and Pete lacked on Bataan." (War Films Bulletin of the Extension Division, Indiana University, February, 1943, 5)
|
