Kings Go Forth *** (1958, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood) – Classic Movie Review 8,922

‘One Gave Her Everything a Woman Could Want… One Took Everything a Woman Could Give!’ The 1958 black and white World War Two romance action drama Kings Go Forth stars Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood.

‘One Gave Her Everything a Woman Could Want… One Took Everything a Woman Could Give!’

Director Delmer Daves’s 1958 black and white World War Two romance action drama Kings Go Forth is based on the 1956 novel by Joe David Brown, and stars Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. Although it is in part a race drama, the film is content to use the regulation war movie storyline of two soldiers in love with the same woman.

In a well-meaning, if now dated, awkward romantic and racial wartime drama, GI buddies First Lieutenant Sam Loggins (Sinatra) and Corporal Britt Harris (Curtis) fall for Monique Blair (Wood), who is part French and, it turns out, has an African American father. Kings Go Forth is decently and delicately written, and very competently handled by Daves and his cast, with Curtis coming off best of the stars.

Overcoming his initial prejudice, Loggins (Sinatra) really loves Monique, but Harris (Curtis), who has pretended to want to marry her in order to sleep with her, dumps her because she proves to be of American Mulatto ancestry.  The men go ballistic, but have to tackle the Nazis first.

Curtis recalled: ‘Frank Sinatra was the star and narrator of the film, which was about the mop-up operations in France at the end of World War Two, the so-called Champagne Campaign around the Riviera. He was Sam the tough sergeant and I was one of the replacements in his unit, the rich kid with something to prove. Natalie of course didn’t look remotely black, but in those days a black girl could not have played that part.’

Well, strangely enough, the Monique character was written with Dorothy Dandridge in mind. She was the first African American nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Carmen Jones (1954) and would have been ideal.

The film’s setting during the so-called Champagne Campaign remains unique. Operation Dragoon was the actual code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion of Provence in Southern France on 15 August 1944. 

Kings Go Forth premiered on June 14, 1958, in Monaco before Princess Grace and Prince Ranier as a benefit for the UN refugee fund. It was released on June 28, 1958.

Also in the cast are Leora Dana, Karl Swenson, Ann Codee, Eddie Ryder, Jacques Berthe, Cyril Delevanti, Pete Candoli, Red Norvo and Marie Isnard.

The score is by Elmer Bernstein, who wrote Frank Sinatra’s song Monique, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn.

It took $2.8 million on US and Canada rentals, making it a moderate hit.

Kings Go Forth is directed by Delmer Daves, 109 minutes, is made by Frank Ross-Eton Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by Merle Miller, based on the novel by Joe David Brown, is shot in black and white by Daniel L Fapp, is produced by Frank Ross, is scored by Elmer Bernstein, and is designed by Fernando Carrere.

Sinatra is 25 years older than Natalie Wood, whom he romances, and eight years older than Leora Dana, who plays her mother.

The 1956 novel Kings Go Forth draws on Joe David Brown’s WW2 military experiences and is set in Italy, whereas the film is set in Southern France with the two friends manning an observation post falling in love with the same French girl.

Joe David Brown

American novelist and journalist Joe David Brown (May 12, 1915 – April 22, 1976) from Birmingham, Alabama, drew from his own life for his stories – his knowledge as a reporter of confidence games, his World War Two experiences and his grandfather’s role as a minister. 

Three of his novels became movies. Stars in My Crown (1950). Kings Go Forth (1958) and Paper Moon (1973) based on Addie Pray (1971).

The cast 

The cast are Frank Sinatra as First Lieutenant Sam Loggins, Tony Curtis as Corporal Britt Harris, Natalie Wood as Monique Blair, Leora Dana as Mrs Blair, Karl Swenson as the Colonel, Ann Codee as Mme Brieux, Eddie Ryder (billed as Edward Ryder) as Cpl Lindsay, Jacques Berthe as Jean-François Dauvah, Cyril Delevanti, Pete Candoli, Red Norvo and Marie Isnard.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8,922

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com