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Very disappointing...

A Masterpiece!

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

The title is from John Dryden's poem, "Alexander's Feast", stanza 1: "None but the brave/ deserve the fair" . Sinatra's directorial debut , it results to be an efficient effort , a straightforward and gripping movie , being the first Japanese/American co-production . During WWII , an American bomber aircraft is gunned down and crashes on an island (the plane flown that was shot down was R4D, C47 transport) . American and marooned Japanese soldiers (survivors from a Japanese battalion) are stranded on a tiny Pacific island , in the Salomons , during World War II . But in this uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean there is one Japanese military group and both of them stranded together . There takes place a physical and psychological battle between American/Japanese with anti-war allegory . After a skirmish , the two bunches initiate a fragile truce with the understanding that fighting will resume if one or the other sends for help . The Japanse detachment (who are mercifully allowed to speak Japanese) is commanded Lt. Kuroki (Tatsuya Mihashi) , as the film being told through the eyes of this Japanese unit commander . The American group is commanded by Capt. Dennis Bourke (Clint Walker) who must deal with an atmosphere of growing distrust and tension between their men . They confront each other in a violent mini-war but then come to terms with each other . . There , they must cease their hostility and unite themselves if they want to survive until a disappointing and unexpected ending . The Marines hold heavy weapons : M1 , Grease gun , carbine and 45 cal pistol against the Japanese rifle and hand grenade . Soonafter , the American attempt to capture a boat laboriously built by the Japanese . The American repair their radio unit ; then , things go wrong and they must decide on their next unsettling actions . This movie's closing end coda states: "Nobody Ever Wins" .Nice and well executed film set during WWII , containing a brief anti-war declaration . The plot is plain as well as simple and prefigures ¨John Boorman's Hell in Pacific¨ , dealing with a platoon of Marines crash-lands on a tiny Pacific island occupied by a small Japanese unit and must make a temporary truce and cooperate to survive various tribulations . The film has a carefully constructed mood as the two groups warily circle each other and spasmodically clashing in battle , including an anti-war message ingeniously overplayed . However , being stupidly fractured by two inappropriate flashbacks , obviously designed to provide the ordinary love interest . The movie sometimes lapses into tedium and slowness , though contains striking images with moments of great power and adequate scenarios . Here Sinatra gives a very good acting as the sympathetic but drunk doctor . Known as "One-Take Charlie" for his approach to acting that strove for spontaneity and energy, rather than perfection , Sinatra was an instinctive actor who was best at playing parts that mirrored his own personality . The remaining cast is pretty good , such as : the tall Clint Walker who bears the main role , Brad Dexter from Magnificent seven , Tony Bill , Rafer Johnson as Pvt. Johnson , Tommy Sands who co-stars in the movie divorced Nancy Sinatra, Frank Sinatra's daughter , the same year this picture came out and Richard Sinatra , Frank Sinatra's cousin, appears as Private Roth . And special mention for Tatsuya Mihashi as Lt. Kuroki . This is the first Japanese-American co-production, produced by Kikumaru Okuda for Toho Studios and by Frank Sinatra for Warner Brothers , being professionally directed by Frank who displays great competence as an action filmmaker with some scenes that are decently choreographed and memorable fight shots of both sides when they destroy their means of getaway . Frank Sinatra's only film as director and his 6th out of nine films as producer , though he also made 2 episodes ,¨The Frank Sinatra Show¨ TV Series . Sinatra's biggest hit was his role as Maggio in From Here to eternity (1953) . He won an Oscar for best supporting actor and followed this with a scintillating performance as a cold-blooded assassin hired to kill the US President in Suddenly (1954). Arguably a career-best performance , garnering him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor , was his role as a pathetic heroin addict in the powerful drama The man with the Golden arm (1955). He continued to give strong and memorable performances in such films as Guys and dolls (1955) and Some come running (1958). In the late 1950s and 1960s Sinatra became somewhat prolific as a producer, turning out such films as A hole in the head (1959) , Sergeant 3 (1962) and the very successful Robin and 7 Hoods (1964). Lighter roles alongside "Rat Pack" buddies Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. were lucrative, especially the famed Ocean's eleven (1960). On the other hand, he alternated such projects with much more serious offerings, such as The Manchurian Candidate (1962), regarded by many critics as Sinatra's finest picture . That same year Von Ryan (1965) was a box office sensation . In 1967 Sinatra returned to familiar territory in Sidney J. Furie's The naked runner (1967) , once again playing masterfully in his only film to be shot in the U.K. and Germany . That same year he starred as a private investigator in Tony Rome (1967), a role he reprised in the sequel , Lady in cement (1968). He also starred with Lee Remick in The detective (1968), a film daring for its time with its engaging theme and it was a major box-office success.

Some people choose to see war as good vs. evil. Perhaps at a macroscopic or ideological level, it can be seen that way. But on a human level, eye-to-eye with the enemy, everything changes. That is why, in boot camp, the first thing a recruit learns is to de-humanize the enemy, or worse, to hate the person in his target sights. This is a powerful film which explores what happens when soldiers dare to meet their targets face to face and re-humanize them.Set on a remote, uncharted isle in the pacific, two enemy platoons find themselves marooned with no connection to the war. They fight, with heavy casualties on both sides, but due to the close quarters, it's inevitable that they would come to see each other as human beings & neighbours. That's as much as I'll say because the rest is for you to discover.This is not a WWII film. There are no politics mentioned, and aside from the uniforms it could be about any two warring nations--India & Pakistan, Israel & Palestine, 18th century France & England--and the script would basically remain the same. The message of the film is absolute.Frank Sinatra made his first, and I think his only, directing effort here, and I thought it was spectacular. Like many of his films it has a somewhat playful delivery, but when the moment calls for gravity, we get it as heavy as a sack of bricks. The "amputation scene" is a great example. Done entirely without music, wide camera so we can see everyone's tension (down to the Buddhist priest chanting quietly in the background), and perhaps the sweatiest scene of Sinatra's career.If you like this kind of challenging war movie which dares to show both sides of the coin, I also recommend "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" (set in a Japanese POW camp), "The Young Lions" (starring Marlon Brando as a Nazi soldier with a heart), "Das Boot" (a boot full of Nazis with hearts) or my favourite, a great Korean war-comedy-drama called "Welcome to Dongmakgol".

I was very impressed with this movie. The Technicolor was amazing and Frank Sinatra was good in it. The movie was basically about a bunch of Marine's that crash onto an island in their plane. Once they are there, the Japanese start to attack them at every opportunity. The lieutenant was over the top. He would yell stuff like "I AM TIRED OF THE WAY YOUR ARE RUNNING THIS PLATOON! ARE YOU QUESTIONING MY AUTHORITY?" He would open his mouth literally as WIDE OPEN as it could go with EACH AND EVERY WORD. I am not kidding either. In once scene he said "I AM GOING TO KILL ME SOME DIRTY JAPS" to which Frank Sinatra replied "Dirty Japs lieutenant? Why they invented the bathroom!" Anyway, the Japs and the American's eventually discover that nobody will come to rescue them from the Island so they decide to have a truce and become friends. There was this one FAT Japanese soldier that looked like the guy from Gilligan's Island (round glasses). It was quite funny. Also, the Japanese in this movie were not as ruthless as they were in reality. Another unrealistic scene was when this Japanese fisherman was being held at gunpoint by a Marine. So, the Japanese fisherman starts laughing. The Marine instantly started to laugh as well and traded a few cigarettes for some fish. The ending was very violent and unrealistic as well. However - the highlight of this movie was definitely the lieutenant. I have tried to imitate him and it's literally hard on the jaw muscles to talk that way.

It's probably a mistake to say that this is Frank Sinatra's only effort at directing. Truth be told, starting with Ocean's 11, he directed about half the films he was in, whoever's name is in the credits was just a puppet. Frank was also producing as well, probably though he didn't want the public to get the idea he was Orson Welles.Maybe it would have taken an Orson Welles to have made None But the Brave a classic film, but Sinatra in his only formal effort at directing doesn't do a bad job except for his then son-in-law Tommy Sands. In fact he anticipates Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima films by 40 years.This isn't Iwo Jima exactly, it's a small backwater island in the Pacific where a squad of Japanese soldiers have been cut off and are living off the land so to speak. A Navy transport plane is shot down with a squad of U.S. Marines on board. Pilot Clint Walker crash lands safely on that selfsame island and saves most of them, but they are also cut off. After a lot skirmishing mostly between Walker and Sands with Walker trying to prevent newly commissioned second lieutenant Sands from doing something stupid like charging the Japanese headlong, the two groups agree to opt out of World War II. An interesting thing happens, both find that they have a lot in common. We already know that in seeing the film from the Japanese point also with subtitles.The Japanese players are unknown to we occidentals for the most part, but I looked and found several like, Tatsuya Mihashi as the Japanese commander, Takeshi Kato as their sergeant, and Homere Suguro as the corporal who has his leg amputated by Frank Sinatra had substantial careers in Japanese cinema. The player on that side I liked most however was Ryucho Shunputei as the simple Japanese private who fishes and quite frankly is the key to their survival. I'm betting he wasn't exactly in the Samurai tradition in combat, but his skill at the profession he left behind is keeping his whole group alive.For himself Frank Sinatra took the part of a Navy Corpsman who is the only non-Marine beside Walker on the American side. The part fits him quite well indeed. This was the film where Brad Dexter who's the Marine sergeant in the film saved Frank Sinatra from drowning when old Blue Eyes was swimming and was nearly swept out to sea by the undertow. Bing Crosby's son Phil had a small role as one of the Marines, no doubt a favor from Old Blue Eyes to the Old Groaner.Frank Sinatra could be vindictive however and I had never thought about it before, but another reviewer's comments about Tommy Sands made me reconsider his performance. Maybe Frank was actually trying to mess his career up. Sands as the green second lieutenant is almost a caricature of one. He's so bad in the role, maybe it was lousy directing for him only.Other than that, Frank did not do a half bad job. It's not a great film, but it's not bad either and it does raise some interesting questions about people in combat situations.