On K List of Movie Reviews
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Kings Go Forth (1958)
Rate:
6
Viewed:
8/25
8/25:
Kings Go Forth is an uneven war picture.
Sure, it has Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood, and Hollywood thinks that's enough. Well, no. The
first forty minutes goes nowhere. Finally, a revelation is made: Natalie Wood is black. I laughed at that
moment. No, she isn't and is, in fact, as white as snow along with an in-and-out French accent. The role was
meant for Dorothy Dandridge, but producer Frank Ross said, "It would be impossible to use a Negro in the role
of Monique because, at the beginning of the picture, we must not know that she is a Negro."
Yet the show improves when Tony Curtis starts to appear more often and gets to have Natalie Wood as his love
interest while the old-looking Frank Sinatra is feeling dejected about it. I thought why not the latter go
for Leora Dana given that they look more age-appropriate. He was 42 and she was 34 at the time of filming
while Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood were 32 and 19, respectively. The last thirty minutes helps to reach for a
heroic conclusion of the war for both leading men.
When the one-armed Frank Sinatra and Natalie Wood reunited for the first time since what happened, I was okay
with it because there was no kissing going on. No matter what, he's simply too old for her and needed to move on
with his life. The first moment that Tony Curtis embraced Natalie Wood, she looked a lot beautiful, and
there was strong chemistry between these two. Hence, it's too bad they didn't do a black-and-white romance
movie of their own.
All in all, pairing Frank Sinatra with Natalie Wood is the biggest mistake of Kings Go Forth, but Tony
Curtis makes it worth watching.