Share of Honor

While entertaining and often absorbing, this panoramic WW II saga of the lives and loves of American resistance fighters in the Philippines boils down to yet another ``us against them'' war drama. In an attempt to make history real, Graves has reduced major events to personal triumphs and tragedies. Amos Watson, an elderly American entrepreneur and respected member of the Philippine business community, draws on his many contacts to set up a ring of spies that he directs from inside the Santo Tomas prison camp. His mistress, Carmen Despensayang, a voluptuous nightclub singer known as Papaya, becomes the lover of Admiral Buto, and through him supplies the U.S. with vital information. Graves segues between Watson, Despensayang, Brad Stone, a soldier turned guerilla leader, Major Jack Humphreys, who wills himself to live after the notorious Death March, and Sam Phipps, an officer on MacArthur's staff. Graves, former managing editor of Life and editorial director of Time , grew up in the Philippines and later saw army service there. The authenticity of background detail compensates for the thinness of character. (Feb.)