Kings Go Forth

Rating:
Summary: One of the finest movies ever!
Review: I had been wanting to see this movie for a long time. I rented it the other day, and I'm so glad I did. This is Frank Sinatra at his best. He is wonderful as the loving, tender Sam. He's so sweet to the beautiful, yet fragile Monique, the girl he deeply loves. This movie is one of honor, character, integrity, and true love- traits all seen in Sam. This is also a very bold movie, especially for the 1950s. Sam's undying love for Monique is lovely, even after she tells him her father was a Negro. He ponders this, but his love for Monique stands strong. This has become one of my favorite movies. It's a touching story about true love, and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Kings Go Forth
Review: I have always loved this movie. It is a wonderful drama and the cast is over the top with talent. One other, very important reason I love this movie, is that my dad is in this movie. He plays a German officer. He helped authenticate the military uniforms warn by the actors. For helping do this, the director offered him a bit part....my dad is a decorated veteran of 2 campaigns. WWll, and Korea! So it has always been a family joke that dad defected during the war...
Sincerely,
D.L.

Rating:
Summary: ONE TOUGH AND EXCELLENT MOVIE
Review: I remember watching this movie when I was a only seven or eight and being totally ticked off that most of the film was set away from all the action I loved. "Hey, we're fighting the Germans. Forget this French chick!"

Now watching this film all these years later I am nearly overwhelmed with how mature and complex Kings Go Forth is. This could have easily sunk to the level of a simple minded morality play; but the interplay of likable and flawed human characters raise this film to be a story for thoughtful adults.

Racism is a theme; but it is only one of several. We have a rich kid/poor kid dynamic. We have sexual jeolousy. We have a central character who struggles to not only to do the right thing but to act with a nobility he knows is not natural for him. We have a irresponsible character who is sauve and socially graceful who knows exactly what he is even though he is a true hero in many ways. We have a French girl who is actually American--very much American in the sense that she is the product of a uniquely American melting pot. But she lives in exile because she is also ahead of her time. She so desparately wants to be worthy of her true homeland and is crushed when she finds out the hope she has set her heart on is false. She also knows that she failed to "dance with the one who brought her" for a golden boy whose promise was untrue.

On top of all this is the larger drama of loyalty and duty in war. How at the end Sinatra comforts and forgives the buddy he promised to kill as death seemingly was about to consume them both. Deaths both Sinatra and Curtis come to accept as a price of the mission.

Sinatra was rarely better than this. Wood breathes live into a role that is quite wooden on paper. While Curtis acts his butt off playing the cad we end up feeling sympathy for. (It has been Tony Curtis' great fortune and curse to be in films where he is overshadowed by actors who were not just good but great. We are dazzled by the performances of these great actors so much that Curtis' own contributions are obscured by the glow. But he also has to be ranked as one of Hollywood's most accomplished and skilled actors.)

Kings Go Forth is an excellent film. It is overlooked and deserves more. It is both complex and subtle. You will think about these characters for a long time.

Rating:
Summary: ONE TOUGH AND EXCELLENT MOVIE
Review: I remember watching this movie when I was a only seven or eight and being totally ticked off that most of the film was set away from all the action I loved. "Hey, we're fighting the Germans. Forget this French chick!"

Now watching this film all these years later I am nearly overwhelmed with how mature and complex Kings Go Forth is. This could have easily sunk to the level of a simple minded morality play; but the interplay of likable and flawed human characters raise this film to be a story for thoughtful adults.

Racism is a theme; but it is only one of several. We have a rich kid/poor kid dynamic. We have sexual jeolousy. We have a central character who struggles to not only to do the right thing but to act with a nobility he knows is not natural for him. We have a irresponsible character who is sauve and socially graceful who knows exactly what he is even though he is a true hero in many ways. We have a French girl who is actually American--very much American in the sense that she is the product of a uniquely American melting pot. But she lives in exile because she is also ahead of her time. She so desparately wants to be worthy of her true homeland and is crushed when she finds out the hope she has set her heart on is false. She also knows that she failed to "dance with the one who brought her" for a golden boy whose promise was untrue.

On top of all this is the larger drama of loyalty and duty in war. How at the end Sinatra comforts and forgives the buddy he promised to kill as death seemingly was about to consume them both. Deaths both Sinatra and Curtis come to accept as a price of the mission.

Sinatra was rarely better than this. Wood breathes live into a role that is quite wooden on paper. While Curtis acts his butt off playing the cad we end up feeling sympathy for. (It has been Tony Curtis' great fortune and curse to be in films where he is overshadowed by actors who were not just good but great. We are dazzled by the performances of these great actors so much that Curtis' own contributions are obscured by the glow. But he also has to be ranked as one of Hollywood's most accomplished and skilled actors.)

Kings Go Forth is an excellent film. It is overlooked and deserves more. It is both complex and subtle. You will think about these characters for a long time.

Rating:
Summary: Superb acting by non-actor Sinatra
Review: Put ol' Blue Eyes in a vehicle where he never sang and usually you got a rather forgettable performance. In such cases, it was best to put him in a role where, as the old country song went, all he had to do was "ack natcher'ly". You'd never know that from this effort, though--where he played an Army officer competing for the love of a beautiful French girl (Natalie Wood) with his dreamboat sergeant (Tony Curtis). Curtis' looks and charm sweep the girl off her feet, but it's clear that Sinatra has more to offer her in what really matters. But the balloon really goes up when Wood's mother reveals to both men that her late husband was African-American, making their daughter a mulatto. This causes Sinatra to do some soul searching centered on the fact that his upbringing had a certain amount of racism in it that he'd never really questioned until now. As for Curtis' reaction, I don't want to give too much away. Except for the fact that this film shows Sinatra--a man whose main talents were in another branch of entertainment, holding his own with two of the American screen's best talents.