[3] The film features extensive stock footage from RKO's Soldiers of the Sea that in some cases appear on process screens that the actors stand in front of.

Ex-Marines Jimmy McGinnis (Victor McLaglen) and Harry Curtis (Edmund Lowe), who haven't seen each other for fifteen years, meet at a racetrack.

When visiting a clip joint called the Shoreleave Cafe with Violet, they meet the owner, Jim Blake (Paul Kelly).

Jimmy and Harry are called back to active service as gunnery sergeants with the 6th Marines where they crash the spy ring.

RKO's Call Out the Marines had a troubled production history with different stars and technicians announced in trade papers of the time for the film.