Slow paced romance triangle set during World War II. 30 minutes of this one told me I could go to sleep missing it. Sinatra, Curtis and Wood co-starred in this rather boring black and white non-event. Despite the cast, it was lost on me why this movie was made. Great title however, unlike today's offerings.
"It
comes from Hollywood's era of grown-up "topic" movies, but Kings Go Forth has not left much of a trail. Two GIs, stationed near the French Riviera toward the end of World War II, compete for the love of a local girl (Natalie Wood). Her secret: Her father was black.
The guys are Frank Sinatra, in his lost and lonely key, and Tony Curtis, as a spoiled kid breezing by on his looks (this was the same year Curtis did The Defiant Ones, also on race). Director Delmer Daves was very good at this kind of melancholy melodrama (see also A Summer Place), but this movie's non-reputation is easy to understand; it's mild and sentimental at its core.
The only character that doesn't seem to be Representing Something is Sinatra's tender portrait of a soldier at loose ends, a far cry from his nervy Maggio in From Here to Eternity." --Robert Horton
NOTES:
1 Of his role in Kings Go Forth, Tony Curtis said that it was the "most difficult" of his career, while Sinatra said that he "took the part as a performer, not a lecturer on racial problems."
2 The Music was written by Elmer Bernstein. It includes Frank Sinatra's song Monique, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn.
3 At the US box office, Kings Go Forth was a moderate hit that was received without great adulation from critics, but hardly lambasted.
Cast
Frank Sinatra as 1st Lt. Sam Loggins
Tony Curtis as Cpl. Britt Harris
Natalie Wood as Monique Blair
Leora Dana as Mrs. Blair
Karl Swenson as The Colonel
Ann Codee as Mme. Brieux
Eddie Ryder as Cpl. Lindsay (as Edward Ryder)
Jacques Berthe as Jean-François Dauvah, Boy
Crew
Composer: Elmer Bernstein
Production Designer: Fernando Carrere
Director: Delmer Daves*
Cinematographer: Daniel L. Fapp
Screenplay: Merle Miller
Costume Designer: Leah Rhodes
Producer: Frank Ross
Associate Producer: Richard Ross
* Films directed by Delmer Daves
1940s Destination Tokyo (1943) · The Very Thought of You (1944) · Hollywood Canteen (1944) · Pride of the Marines (1945) · The Red House (1947) · Dark Passage (1947) · To the Victor (1948) · A Kiss in the Dark (1949) · Task Force (1949)
1950s Broken Arrow (1950) · Bird of Paradise (1951) · Return of the Texan (1952) · Treasure of the Golden Condor (1953) · Never Let Me Go (1953) · Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) · Drum Beat (1954) · Jubal (1956) · The Last Wagon (1956) · 3:10 to Yuma (1957) · Cowboy (1958) · Kings Go Forth (1958) · The Badlanders (1958) · The Hanging Tree (1959) · A Summer Place (1959)
1960s Parrish (1961) · Susan Slade (1961) · Rome Adventure (1962) · Spencer's Mountain (1963) · Youngblood Hawke (1964) · The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965)
February 16, 2011
