A Yank on the Burma Road

NR 5.5
1942 1 hr 7 min Adventure , Drama , War

A celebrated New York cabbie is pressed into service for a perilous journey through World War II China.

  • Cast:
    Laraine Day , Barry Nelson , Stuart Crawford , Keye Luke , Victor Sen Yung , Philip Ahn , Knox Manning

Similar titles

Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
The lifelong friendship between Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker is put to the ultimate test when the two ace fighter pilots become entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval nurse Evelyn Johnson. But the rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves at the center of Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
Pearl Harbor 2001
Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan explores how the life of a middle-aged television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
Manhattan 1979
Annie Hall
Annie Hall
New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.
Annie Hall 1977
The Last Emperor
The Last Emperor
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
The Last Emperor 1987
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
In this riot of frantic disguises and mistaken identities, Victor Pivert, a blustering, bigoted French factory owner, finds himself taken hostage by Slimane, an Arab rebel leader. The two dress up as rabbis as they try to elude not only assasins from Slimane's country, but also the police, who think Pivert is a murderer. Pivert ends up posing as Rabbi Jacob, a beloved figure who's returned to France for his first visit after 30 years in the United States. Adding to the confusion are Pivert's dentist-wife, who thinks her husband is leaving her for another woman, their daughter, who's about to get married, and a Parisian neighborhood filled with people eager to celebrate the return of Rabbi Jacob.
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob 1973
GoodFellas
GoodFellas
The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.
GoodFellas 1990
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Instead of flying to Florida with his folks, Kevin ends up alone in New York, where he gets a hotel room with his dad's credit card—despite problems from a clerk and meddling bellboy. But when Kevin runs into his old nemeses, the Wet Bandits, he's determined to foil their plans to rob a toy store on Christmas Eve.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York 1992
We've Never Been Licked
We've Never Been Licked
Young Brad Craig enters the military school with a chip on his shoulder which upperclassmen quickly knock off. Once adjusted, Craig falls in love with a professor's beautiful daughter, only to find she is in love with his roommate.
We've Never Been Licked 1943
Gandhi
Gandhi
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.
Gandhi 1982
Night and Fog
Night and Fog
Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.
Night and Fog 1956

Reviews

Hellen
1942/01/29

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

... more
Stometer
1942/01/30

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

... more
Odelecol
1942/01/31

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

... more
Lucia Ayala
1942/02/01

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

... more
bkoganbing
1942/02/02

MGM's B picture unit apparently got this one out in a hurry to take advantage of the anger over the Pearl Harbor attack. According to A Yank On The Burma Road, Barry Nelson led the first counterattack after Pearl Harbor and it was in China.This film casts Nelson as a cabdriver who after capturing some New York gangsters singlehanded accepts an offer from the Kuomintang of Nationalist China to head a convoy of supplies on the Burma Road from Rangoon to the wartime capital of Chungking. As if his exploits as a New York cabdriver qualified him for such a position.At the same time Laraine Day is Rangoon inquiring after her husband Stuart Crawford whom she is shocked to learn is a mercenary flying for the Japanese. I'm unaware that the Japanese or any of the Axis powers hired out mercenaries, that sure hasn't come down in history. She tricks Nelson into taking her along to Chungking.It's a job to Nelson, but as he makes the trip he starts admiring the Chinese for their fortitude. And when news of Pearl Harbor hits, he gets in the first licks for America.Until the Doolittle Tokyo Raid, the American public festered for news that we hit back after Pearl Harbor. If they couldn't get real news then they settled for some vicarious counterattacks which movies like A Yank On The Burma Road provided.This is one creaky old propaganda flick that hasn't stood up well at all.

... more
sol
1942/02/03

***SPOILERS*** Unsual WWII movie that was actually finished almost a month before the US enter the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor! The fact that the attack on Pearl Harbor is mentioned in the movie's prologue and even later in the movie itself shows that it's storyline was changed after it was already in the can and had a number of scenes re-shot to update it. Joe Tracey, Barry Nelson, the hard driving New York City taxi driver made a name for himself in capturing single-handedly the two notorious Spinaldi Brothers after they shot down a number of policemen in a New York City subway station. Basking in his popularity as a full fledged honest to goodness red blooded American hero Tracey is later approached by a local Chinese fraternity to drive a column of trucks up the Burma Road loaded with food and medical supplies to the beleaguered Chinese capital of Chunk-King that's on the verge of falling to the Japanese army.Reluctant at first Tracey has a change of heart when he sees a number of Chinese students singing the Nationalist Chinese Governments national anthem as well as contributing what little they could scrape up for the cause in driving the hated Japs out of their country! Now in Rangoon Tracey runs into Amercan Gail Farwood,Larine Day, who's about to be deported by the British who run the country as an undesirable alien! It's Gail's estranged American the German born husband Tom Farwood, Stuart Crawford, who switched sides, even though at the time the USA was neutral, by joining the Japanese air-force in it's war against the United Kingdom, China's ally, who like the USA was not at war with Japan at the time! It's hard to follow the movie in any historical context in knowing that Tracey was in fact working on his own in fighting the Japs not for what they did to his country, the attack on Pearl Harbor was still months away, but for what they were doing to the Chinese people! This all was very noble but in no way patriotic on Tracey's part!In charge of getting a column of trucks across the treacherous Burma Road Tracey uses his expertise as a New York taxi driver to get the job done. In fact the Burma Road was in no way as dangerous as the streets on New York city that Tracey drove his cab for a living.***SPOILERS*** Pretty good action scenes with Tracey and his American Chinese friend Kim How, Keye Luke, breaking through the Japanese lines at Shan Lu in order to break the siege of Chunk-King some 300 miles away. Among the difficulties that Tracey and his Chinese allies faced was non other then Gail's husband Tom who did everything to keep his mission, in breaking through the Japanses lines, from being successful.What I considered the real hero in the movie Wing, who reminds me of a Chinese Hurtz Hall, played by Victor Sen Yung who was really the person who saved the day for Tracey and the men under his command. But by the time the film ended Wing wasn't around to get any applause from them!

... more
thinker1691
1942/02/04

From the magnificent collection of war time films, comes this jovial story of an American cabby, Joe Tracey (Barry Nelson) who without too much effort, manages to capture single handedly, two notorious hoodlums. In doing so, he is instantly catapulted to national fame. One of the effects of such fame is that he is sought out by Dr. Franklin Ling (Phillip Ahn) and other Chinesse patriots Kim How (Keye Luke) who engage him to lead a convoy of trucks across the old Burma Road. Once there he is beset with a number of problems, least of which are the invading Japanese, little fuel, blown bridges and a fair damsel in distress. Mrs. Gail Farwood (Laraine Day). The movie is standard for the pre-war years and formulated to entice America to join the war. Shown in Black and White, the film is subtly propaganda in nature and sympathetic to the Chinese people's plight. Mr. Nelson is stereotypical of the American hero and is convincing in character.If one enjoys the film, then it's message has been conveyed. ***

... more
dexter-10
1942/02/05

A New York City cabby gets to lead a caravan of medical supplies up the Burma Road to Chungking for the Chinese Five Brothers Society. History testifies that more than medicine was delivered by these runs, most likely fuel and ammunition were common. However, the American role in World War Two China was not clearly defined until the Declaration of War on Japan in December of 1941, so, like the Flying Tigers, the convoys were, until then, sort of official-unofficial adventures. At face value, at least, this film claims humanitarian ends. Cabby Joe Tracey must negotiate dangerous mountain roads during a gasoline shortage, and deal with a determined Laraine Day as well. Can he survive it all? One thing is certain: New York was never like this.

... more

Watch Free Now