A Yank on the Burma Road on AllMovie

Mercenary taxi driver Joe Tracy (Barry Nelson) is the Yank on the Burma Road in this MGM second feature. For strictly monetary reasons, Joe agrees to shepherd a caravan of medical supplies through Burma and into China. Going along for the ride is Gail Farwood (Laraine Day), who'd been stranded in Burma without passport when the Japanese invaded the country. Ultimately, Joe's patriotism takes precedence over his greed, and he begins striking back at any and all enemy soldiers with a vengeance. The hero's conversion takes place in a scene obviously added after the film's completion: hastily reading a letter from home, Joe mutters "So they bombed Pearl Harbor, did they?" Shoehorned in though it may have been, this little scene turned out to be the very first mention of Pearl Harbor in any American feature film, earning A Yank on the Burma Road a niche in the overall history of the cinema.