vitaleralphlouis Twenty years after the Japanese surrender, Frank Sinatra and other Hollywood empty-heads decide to create this dreadful movie which dishonors all the wonderful Americans who fought in the war, as well as their families and other Americans who worked tirelessly to keep our country together during the double-war with Japan and the Nazis.NOBODY EVER WINS is the message. Imperial Japan was the moral equivalent of America; as were the Nazis. Who thinks up this crap? I saw this anti-American junk movie in 1965 and forgot how awful it was, recently watched it again 07/04/11. I'm sorry; I ought to have remembered and not disrespected our dead hero's.

zardoz-13 The co-production between an American studio--Warner Brothers--and a Japanese studio--Toho--exemplified not only director Frank Sinatra's liberal attitude but also a major World War II film that presents the Japanese in a sympathetic light. Indeed, "None But the Brave" qualifies as an anti-war film largely because two groups of opposing soldiers find themselves marooned on an uncharted Pacific island and wind up have to live with each other to survive. Three years later director John Boorman made a similar World War II feature with Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune called "Hell in the Pacific." "Parachute Battalion" scenarist John Twist and "Attack Squadron!" scribe Katsuya Susaki based their script on Kikumaru Okuda's story. They filter this politically correct saga through the diary of the Japanese officer commanding the troops on the island. Initially, the Japanese and the Americans are at each other's throats until they call a truce. No sooner has the tension between the two armies dwindled than they play a game of deception to mislead each other about their respective strengths. Mind you, this was the only feature film that Sinatra made. Although Sinatra received top billing, Clint Walker and Tatsuya Mihashi are the leads commanding the soldiers. Sinatra casts himself as a liquor guzzling medic and Tommy Sands has the best role in terms of character arc. He is the only person in the action who changes his mind. He goes from being a die-hard, kill-all-Japs lieutenant in the Marine Corps to a soldier reluctant to kill his mortal foe because he likes them. Meanwhile, Walker and Mihashi have the most developed, flesh-and-blood characters, even though they don't change. Lieutenant Kuroki (Tatsuya Mihashi) feels that the war has left his men and he behind as they soldier on a forgotten island in the Solomon Islands because they have lost contact with their own forces and nobody has come to relieve them. Lt. Kuroki writes about their tribulations in a diary to his wife. Kuroki's second-in-command, combat veteran Sgt. Tamura (Takeshi Katô) has little respect for him because Kuroki hasn't seen as much action as he has. Nevertheless, Kuroki maintains a firm grip on his command. He has ordered his men to construct a boat so they can leave the island. A storm destroyed their radio so they cannot contact outside help. One day a Japanese Zero fighter plane tangles with a Navy fighter escorting a C-47 transport plane. The Zero shoots down the C-47, but both planes knock each other out of the sky. Captain Dennis Bourke (Clint Walker of "Gold of the Seven Saints") manages to crash land the two-engine cargo plane on the beach. He is transporting a squad of Marines and a chief Pharmacist Mate, Francis (Frank Sinatra of "From Here to Eternity") when the plane crashes. Among the Marines is a hot-shot, gung-ho lieutenant, Lieutenant Blair (Tommy Sands of "Ensign Pulver"), who thinks that he is in command until Captain Bourke informs him that he is in command. Blair has about as much respect for Bourke as Sgt. Tamura has for Lt. Kuroki. The two armies square off against each other in a game of cat and mouse until Kuroki offers a truce to Bourke. Since the Americans are starving and Kuroki has a seriously wounded soldier, the Japanese commander approaches Bourke with an offer to share food if Bourke will let Francis tend to his soldier. Of course, Francis hasn't amputated a leg before he lays eyes on the Japanese soldier who will die from gangrene until Francis cuts off his leg. The two commanders cleverly try to deceive each other as to their strength. Eventually, they give up the pretense and share the island in harmony until Bourke's radio man, Air Crewman Keller (Tony Bill of "Come Blow Your Horn"), repairs the damaged transmitter and establishes contact with the U.S. Navy. Up until this time the two armies have lived in harmony, but when a Navy destroyer shows up, the soldier dispense with the truce and resume war as usual.Oddly, Sinatra doesn't appear in every scene and his role is more of a supporting character than a lead. Virile Clint Walker is well-cast as the tough-minded captain. The special effects look good except for a fake mountain in the Japanese back story scene. Nevertheless, this is a thoughtful and provocative drama that doesn't pull any punches. "None But the Brave" was lensed on location in Hawaii. Future "Star Wars" composer Johnny Williams provided the orchestral score. The film derives its title from the first stanza of John Dryden's poem, "Alexander's Feast": "None but the brave/ deserve the fair."

TheLittleSongbird I don't think None But the Brave is a classic, but it certainly is not a bad film. Not at all, even if the pacing is uneven, the score a bit of a disappointment(John Williams has done much better work before) and Tommy Sands's character written not as well as it could have been, there is still a lot to like. Asides from Sands, who does his best with his role, if overdoing it sometimes, the other acting is very good, with Clint Walker giving the best performance as he performs with care and sensitivity and the Japanese actors doing very well. This is one of the cases where Frank Sinatra did a better job as director than as an actor, while he is decent in a secondary role, I found his direction much more impressive. The scenery is very nice to look at, and the story is strong. Also abundant are the likable script and while the secondary characters are a little clichéd some care has gone into making them not seem so. Overall, not absolutely wonderful, but definitely not bad. 7/10 Bethany Cox

DJAkin 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.