None But the Brave
by Frank Sinatra
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Clint Walker, Frank Sinatra, Homare Suguro, Takeshi Kat?, Tatsuya MihashiDirector: Frank Sinatra
Brand: Warner Brothers
Producer: Frank Sinatra
Producer: Howard W. Koch
Producer: Kikumaru Okuda
Writer: Kikumaru Okuda
Producer: William H. Daniels
Writer: John Twist
Writer: Katsuya Susaki
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Japanese (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-05-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of None But the Brave
Movie Review: admirable intentions . . .
Summary: 3 Stars
Set on an island in the south Pacific during World War II, None But The Brave is notable as the only film to be directed and produced by Frank Sinatra. The movie revolves around the interactions between a group of Japanese soldiers stranded on the island, and American Marines who suddenly arrive, when their transport plane is shot down and crash lands on the island.
The film is a collaborative effort between American and Japanese studios. These filmmakers appear to have admirable intentions. Instead of focusing on combat between the American and Japanese forces, the film attempts to provide some insight into the motivation, philosophy, and culture of the Japanese soldiers, primarily through the thoughts of their commanding officer, Lieutenant Kuroki (Tatsuya Mihashi), who provides narration at various points. Painting the entire group with one broad brush may not be accurate, but the hope is that the Japanese soldiers will be viewed as fellow humans and not just the `enemy'.
The Americans are led by Captain Dennis Bourke (Clint Walker), the pilot of the plane, and headstrong Marine Lieutenant Blair (Tommy Sands). Initially, the opposing forces feel each other out, as the Marines try to gain access to fresh water, and steal a boat the Japanese have constructed. Discovering that each is cutoff from communication with their respective commands, a truce is proposed by Kuroki who needs medical assistance for one of his men. Pharmacist mate Maloney (Sinatra) is pressed into service as a surgeon, to amputate the gangrenous leg of a Japanese soldier.
Following a successful operation, peaceful and mostly cooperative coexistence ensues, with the Americans trading cigarettes for fish, and Maloney providing basic care for the recovering soldier. The truce appears broken when the Japanese discover that the Americans have repaired their radio, but an impending storm brings everyone together in a joint effort to save a well. After the Americans restore radio communications, the Japanese refuse an offer to surrender, leading to a final battle for the island. At the end of the film, the words "Nobody Ever Wins" appear on the screen. The precise point of the film may be subject to discussion, but examining the tragic nature of war and conflict, might be near the top of the list.
Moral statements aside, the film is entertaining, although not very realistic. The fighting scenes are almost laughable, only slightly above something like McHale's Navy. Soldiers on both sides just can't shoot straight. If they could, there would soon be few alive, as most don't seem concerned about being shot. Spreading out and taking cover when under fire, would seem obvious self preservation, yet it is rarely done. Apparently these troops are unaware, that when someone is shooting at you, standing up or moving away from cover, makes you a better target.
Artillery fire from a destroyer, that should blow craters on the beach, result in tiny unrealistic explosions. When the truce almost ends, the two forces stand a few feet apart ready to rumble like street gangs. It's dramatic, but not very realistic. When the sky suddenly turns dark, somehow both Kuroki and Bourke immediately recognize that a huge storm is imminent, and that they must work together to protect the well. Due to their quick efforts, a wall of tree trunks and a few sandbags, manages to hold back the flood waters. Well I'll be a son of a buck!
Discipline is lacking, when Marines ordered not to advance, still proceed to the water hole. A sergeant (Brad Dexter) challenges the chain of command, taking a swing at Bourke. Insubordination is present on both sides, with the Japanese making an unauthorized raid, and a gung ho Lieutenant Blair itching to engage the enemy.
Serving as both director and producer, it is a fair assumption that Sinatra was on board with the aims of the film. In the trailer for the film, Sinatra asks the audience the provocative question, "can you still pull the trigger" if the enemy is not some faceless stranger. As an actor, Sinatra turns in a good performance, though mostly in the background, and absent during the fight scenes. As a director, working with a script with issues, Sinatra demonstrates that he can handle a comic book type action film.
Much of the location work was shot of the island of Kauai, in Hawaii. While filming in the Aloha State, Brad Dexter saved Sinatra from drowning, leading to their friendship. Dexter then played a prominent role in Sinatra's next film, the World War II adventure, Von Ryan's Express. Also in the cast, is Sinatra's ex-son in law, Tommy Sands, the pop singer who was married to his daughter, Nancy Sinatra.
While a collaborative effort, the film has a definite Hollywood look. Much of the special effects and model plane work, reflects the trademark Japanese style, similar to a Godzilla film. A young John Williams, provides a rousing score, with elements of Japanese music mixed in. None But The Brave may not be the most polished effort, and it does not escape being clich?d and at times wooden, but the attempt to be more than another shoot `em up war flick is admirable. Sinatra's lone directorial effort looks terrific in Warner Brothers Frank Sinatra Collection widescreen edition.
Summary of None But the Brave
A crippled C-47 transport crash-lands on a remote Pacific island. For the Marines aboard, World War II becomes smaller but no less deadly. The atoll is held by a Japanese platoon, also cut off from its command. Debuting director Frank Sinatra stars in this suspenseful war saga, joined by Clint Walker, Tony Bill and Olympic champion Rafer Johnson. After initial bullet-laced confrontations, the Japanese leader (Tatsuya Mihashi) offers to swap water for the aid of Pharmacist Mate Maloney (Sinatra), whom he's mistaken for a doctor. When Maloney amputates the leg of a Japanese soldier and saves his life, peace results. But can it last? There are two sides to every war. None but the Brave skillfully shows the heroism of both.Frank Sinatra had a strong movie career for years, but he only directed one film: None but the Brave, a 1965 anti-war picture that turns out to be much more interesting and compelling than its reputation would suggest. On a remote Pacific island, a plane carrying U.S. Marines crash-lands, setting up a tense stand-off with the overlooked Japanese contingent already there. The two sides mirror each other, and eventually a nervous truce takes place. There are many unexpected choices here, including Sinatra's casting of himself as merely part of the ensemble, a weary pharmacist's mate who--in the film's most riveting sequence--must perform an amputation. The movie's narrated by the Japanese commander (Tatsuya Mihashi), and the Japanese actually speak their own language (well, except for the narration) instead of accented Hollywood English. Sinatra's good in it, and so is TV star Clint Walker, a big he-man with a quite approach. (Tommy Sands, then Sinatra's son-in-law, gives a broad but amusing performance as a nerdy by-the-book officer.) The film bears the influence of Bridge on the River Kwai with a little Mister Roberts thrown in, but it has a bitterness about war that goes all the way through to the forceful final title, a reflection of Sinatra's liberal views at the time. Clint Eastwood got a lot of credit for making two films that showed WWII from the American and the Japanese sides, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, but in a way Sinatra had already done it, and in one movie. It's not a major film, but an honorable effort, and it predates the rash of anti-war counterculture movies by a few years. --Robert Horton
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