Stranded on a remote Japanese occupied island, a group of US marines consider a truce in this daringly different 60s World War II movie from the directing hand of Frank Sinatra. 'None But the Brave' would be Sinatra's only stint behind the camera, which is a shame as he shows more finesse as a filmmaker than actor here. The film's structure is fascinating as it spends equal time on depicting both US and Japanese sides. Sinatra also allows his Japanese actors to speak in Japanese with English subtitles, avoiding the awkwardness of foreign characters speaking Broken English to each other. There is a particularly effective sequence in which Sinatra crosscuts between Japanese and American troops between addressed at the same time, highlighting the similarities in approach between sides. As a neutral American-made World War II movie with nifty editing, 'None But the Brave' has nothing on 'Beach Red', which would come out two years later, but it is still an admirable effort. Better characters and acting may have helped. Tommy Sands often seems to get chided for his performance, but none of the actors (including Sinatra himself) offer much dimension - not that doing so would be easy since most of the characters are interchangeable. Then again, the film was probably never intended to be character-driven in the first place, and by not having a plethora of protagonists to sympathise with and like, it is easier appreciate the conundrum at hand. Do wartime conditions really still exist on an island cut off from the rest of the world? It is food for thought.

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.

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

On the face of it this is about as simplistic as it gets. Frank Sinatra had already made one plea for tolerance via the short film The House I Live In for which he received a 'special' Oscar and now, exactly twenty five years later, he says much the same thing as a director. Perhaps perversely he himself is the only major Hollywood actor to be seen and surrounds himself with Bush League talent like Clint Walker, Tony Bill, Brad Dexter and his then son-in-law Tommy Sands. This disparate group crash land on a Pacific island inhabited by a forgotten Japanes platoon during World War Two. Essentially the two groups learn that they are all human beings and make a pretty good fist at co-existing until the inevitable day when the outside world intrudes with senseless killing only a heartbeat behind. Simplistic it may be but it does offer a message well worth peddling.