Brilliant and touching

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This movie had potential as a good wartime drama and romance, with racial overtones. The acting is mostly good but nothing exceptional. Frank Sinatra is 1st Lt. Sam Loggins. Tony Curtis plays Cpl. Britt Harris. They become part of a love triangle with Monique Blair (played by Natalie Wood). Harris is a heel and Loggins is a nice guy whom Blair just doesn't love. Leora Dana plays her mother, Mrs. Blair. Karl Swenson plays the colonel. The movie is in two parts, neither of which is very good. While the acting is okay, the drama script is a little weak and lacks energy. The war aspects are the bad part. In general, they are way out of kilter. Much of the Army stuff lacks pep and seems phony or unbelievable. For instance, Lt. Loggins and all of the men we see around him are wearing brand new fatigues. We can understand that with Cpl. Harris and the other new replacements. But not the bulk of the troops who were seasoned veterans, with what should have been the worn clothing to match, from fighting in Italy, Sicily and North Africa. It's too bad the studio couldn't find worn combat gear for the actors in this film. Loggins has just received a battlefield commission, so he should be a 2nd Lt., not a 1st Lt. Then, there are the frequent daily and weekend passes for these guys. Where and when in the war did troops on the front line of combat get such individual passes – and to where? Here they seem to be just a short distance from Nice. And they are stopped by a German force not too far away from Nice for more than two months. But there's no record of anything like that in the Allied invasion of southern France. And, that's enough to detract a great deal from the film. It's too bad because the movie is based on a 1956 novel by Joe David Brown (1915-1976). Brown was a journalist and novelist who based much of his writing on personal experiences. That included his service in World War II. He was a paratrooper in the 460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion that jumped near Le Muy, during the invasion of southern France from Aug. 15-28, 1944. He received a battlefield commission as a 2nd Lieutenant and was wounded. So, he probably tailored the Loggins character after himself. But beyond that, too many of the details in this film don't fit the reality of the campaign, time and place. Either Brown fictionalized that as well as the drama-romance, or Hollywood revised it – or both. The setting for this movie is mostly along the French Riviera. The time is about two weeks after the Allied assault on southern France in Operation Dragoon (initially, Anvil). That began on Aug. 15, 1944. Paris was liberated on Aug. 25 by Allied forces from the June 6 D-Day landings at Normandy. Less than two weeks after the start of Dragoon, the German army had been routed from southern France as far as Grenoble, nearly 200 miles away. The French units had liberated Toulon and Marseilles by Aug 28. The paratroop forces of Operation Hydra had spearheaded Dragoon with drops in all directions around Le Muy. They now had moved to the Var River valley north of Nice. They were to take on any remaining Germans that may be in the Maritime Alps to the east of there. The only others were a German mountain division at Grenoble and a division at Cannes- Nice – both of which were to withdraw east into Italy to pass over to Field Marshall Kesselring's command. As the airborne units moved east, the Germans fled into Italy. So, Nice and the whole Cote d'Azur is freed of Germans. That's the real, historical military and war situation when this movie opens. Unfortunately, what follows in the movie doesn't fit this. The wartime drama and romance aspects are a big part of this movie, along with the scenery around Nice, France. But, the highly inaccurate portrayal of the wartime action detracts from an otherwise interesting story. The on-site scenes along the French Riviera gain this film one extra star. The best scene in this film is in the opening when the American troops are marching through a village in the mountains (some distance north of Nice – who knows where?). Loggins stops in front of an old woman who is offering the G.I.s a drink of wine. He takes a glass of wine from the woman, and their exchange of dialog is memorable. Loggins, "Bonjour, madame!" Woman, "Bonjour, monsieur! Vive l' Amerique!" Loggins, "Vive la France!" Woman, "Vive le President Roosevelt!" Loggins, "Vive le General de Gaul!" Woman, "Vive le Radio City Music Hall!" Loggins, "Vive les Folies Bergere!"There's an occasional comedy line in the film. Sam is going to drive Mrs. Blair to her home. Sam, "How do you feel about riding in a jeep?" Mrs. Blair, "It's one of the several experiences I promised myself before I die. Another is jumping out of a parachute." Sam, "No, dear. You jump out of a plane. You hold onto the parachute."

I think around this time is when Sinatra was big pals with Sammy Davis Jr. so getting involved in a film a subject matter like this was probably something he thought he should do.Basic premise is Sinatra gets to liking a girl in town, when he's on liberty in France, but she's hesitant to getting involved with him. She finally tells him that's her father was a black man. She tells him the basic background of her father and white mother and why they came to France. Back in those times it was it was a common site over there (like Josephine Baker). He takes his time and finally decides he's OK with it but a problem occurs by-way-of Tony Curtis. He's a spoiled little rich kid who gets into the army. He basically has a way with women and gets whatever he wants. He meets Sinatras girl and decides he loves her. This causes issues of course.I won't talk about the big "gasp" in the movie but needless to say, whether you believe in miscegenation or not, you'll probably agree at what Tony Curtis has comin to em at the end.This one is certainly not an award winner but all in all...a decent film

My father owns a paperback edition of the Joe David Brown novel which inspired this film and I recall reading it many years ago. Ever since his Oscar triumph in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953), Frank Sinatra tried to augment his typically light material with heavier stuff: in 1958, he had two of the latter back-to-back (along with Vincente Minnelli’s SOME CAME RUNNING) and, curiously enough, he finds himself with the less showier of the lead roles here.Tony Curtis’ part as the smooth-talking but put-upon charmer is effectively an extension of his Sidney Falco in Alexander Mackendrick’s SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957). The female roles are equally well filled: a lovely 19-year old Natalie Wood plays a young mulatto American raised in France who comes between Army “buddies” Sinatra and Curtis, while 35-year old Leora Dana is cast as Wood’s proud middle-aged mother (she must have quite impressed Sinatra because she was in SOME CAME RUNNING too – as Arthur Kennedy’s wife).The film – backed by a fine score from Elmer Bernstein and including a jam session featuring Curtis and real-life jazz musicians – is well enough made scene by scene and certainly well acted, but the effect is slightly diluted by the unnecessary and ultra-soapy coda (Sinatra losing an arm, Dana dying, Wood gathering together and teaching war orphans – but especially the corny children’ song at the very end). The film is much more of a romantic melodrama than it is a war movie, but the few action sequences therein are good and well spread out throughout the film.Delmer Daves may have been best renowned for his Westerns – but his very first shot as a director had actually come via a war movie, DESTINATION TOKYO (1943), and he eventually returned to the same territory intermittently with PRIDE OF THE MARINES (1945), TASK FORCE (1949) and, finally, KINGS GO FORTH itself.

When I saw the previews to "Kings Go Forth" in 1958, I was excited. This looked like an important picture with big stars (Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood). That I already realized this at the age of 9 still strikes me as fairly remarkable. Later, I couldn't remember much about it after seeing it, except for its climactic battle scene. So, when it showed on Turner in 2005, I decided to watch it again. The interracial theme is certainly dated now, but this was strong stuff in 1958, particularly for someone from the South. After all, at that time southern department stores had separate restrooms for "White" and "Colored," and interracial marriage was ILLEGAL in southern states. However, the interracial theme is really not all that important to the story, as the themes of Sinatra's alienation, Wood's infatuation and Curtis' narcissism are probably elements familiar to MOST of us. Ever pine for a girl/guy friend who fell hard for someone else who was showier or better looking? I would, however, like to touch on what I believe is an unfair criticism of the film; i.e., that Natalie Wood is not convincing as someone of mixed race. Blonde, blue-eyed Cameron Diaz is Swedish and Cuban, and has said in interviews that her father's skin is black and that it is very likely her children would be.I thought Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis were just great in this movie, as was Leora Dana as Natalie's mother. Wood never received her due as an actress and I thought her French accent was just fine. Curtis is absolutely chilling in his confrontation with Dana and Wood and it is easy to understand why Sinatra would want to kill Curtis. I think Sinatra is somewhat miscast as the "ugly duckling" who pines for Wood. After all, we've all seen too many movies where Sinatra's won the hearts of girls as pretty as Wood (if there ARE any other girls as pretty as Wood). Watching the film again, I couldn't help but wonder what Charles Bronson could have done with Sinatra's role. Nonetheless, given the potentially explosive (at that time) interracial element, it is unlikely "Kings Go Forth" would have been made without Sinatra's participation. Further, the episodic structure of "Kings Go Forth" plays against the sexual tension of a love triangle. Finally, the ending is almost annoyingly noncommittal. It shouldn't be; after all, there are enough clues as to what should eventually transpire between the principals. I think, here, the problem continues to be Sinatra. He is simply too aloof and passionless.Given my criticisms, you may be surprised to know I really like "Kings Go Forth." I give it a "7". Oh, and for the record, the French ARE, historically, a VERY racially tolerant people. Witness "Cajuns," the French and Indian War, Josephene Baker and their acceptance of Indo-Chinese Eurasian children.