Product Details

• Actors: Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Leora Dana, Karl Swenson
• Directors: Delmer Daves
• Writers: Joe David Brown, Merle Miller
• Producers: Dick Ross, Frank Ross
• Format: Black & White, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English, French, German
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 109 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302224497
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #302,948 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It comes from Hollywood's era of grown-up "topic" movies, but Kings Go Forth has not left much of a trail. Two GIs, stationed near the French Riviera toward the end of World War II, compete for the love of a local girl (Natalie Wood). Her secret: Her father was black. The guys are Frank Sinatra, in his lost and lonely key, and Tony Curtis, as a spoiled kid breezing by on his looks (this was the same year Curtis did The Defiant Ones, also on race). Director Delmer Daves was very good at this kind of melancholy melodrama (see also A Summer Place), but this movie's non-reputation is easy to understand; it's mild and sentimental at its core. The only character that doesn't seem to be Representing Something is Sinatra's tender portrait of a soldier at loose ends, a far cry from his nervy Maggio in From Here to Eternity. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Forgetable War Drama with a Great Cast, April 29, 2007

By 

Bennet Pomerantz "Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD" (College Park, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Kings Go Forth (DVD)

Frank Sinatra nad Tony Curtis star as two GI friends who both love a young french girl played by Natalie Wood (who keeps loosing her accent during different scenes). The the three of them cast in this forgetable film is worth three stars by itself

Sinatra seem too old to play Wood's love interest. Curis seem too perfect in this role as the blues playing GI in the thick of war.... and Wood-see last paragraph

The world war two melodrama is soapy at best. AS I said before, there are very few suprises in this film, except for the acting of Sinatra and Curtis who outshine the script

Foe Sinatra and Curtis fans only!

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the finest movies ever!, September 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Kings Go Forth [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Alright story of 'forbidden' love, June 4, 2006

By 

Steven Hellerstedt "SH" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kings Go Forth (DVD)

Do you REALLY want to watch "The most challenging love story of our time?" I asked myself that after watching the trailer for KINGS GO FORTH. It's the price I pay for watching the trailers before the movie. Figure they'll give me a hint about what the movie's makers wanted us to think about the movie, give me a clue about their motives.

There were a bunch of reasons for popping the dvd out of the player then and there. KINGS GO FORTH was directed by Delmer Daves, who was in free-fall career decline in 1958, the year the movie was released. One of the factors contributing to the decline was his growing tendency to be late to the game on the big trends - KGF is about a forbidden love, and it's forbidden because the woman involved had a black father. If this had been made a decade earlier, back when movies like `Gentleman's Agreement,' `Pinky,' and `Cross-Fire' were breaking the ground on racial prejudice it would be different. By '58 it was a relatively safe topic, and, fair or not, that makes a big difference.

Also adding to the `you don't want to watch this' feeling was the cast. You can argue, and probably convince me, that Frank Sinatra was the greatest singer ever pressed on vinyl. Different story when you talk about his acting, though. Great in `From Here To Eternity,' intolerable in `Tony Rome.' Sinatra's two co-stars, Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis, weren't any more promising. Worst of all the movie took its title from the Bible. As a general rule movies that take their names from the Bible take themselves very seriously, and want their audience to do the same. So you've got a `hot' topic that was topical a decade earlier, a sense of righteousness that usually makes social-conscious movies a drag, and a trio of less than sure-fire stars.

With all that stacked against it, I'm happy to say I thought this movie was okay. Sinatra is in Maggio mode here, the odd-man out in a love triangle he shares with Wood and Curtis. Sinatra and Curtis are in the same army unit in the picturesque south of France, fighting the Germans during the week, pitching woo at Wood during the weekend. The last act resolves a crisis in the love triangle and introduces a plan by Lt. Sinatra to break the stalemate between the U.S. and German forces, both of which are groaningly predictable. Wood's character is a little too perfect, a little too saintly and innocent to be convincing, but she does the best that could be expected with the role. Curtis, as the charming rogue who cuts in on and supplants Sinatra, is okay. KINGS GO FORTH isn't quite as daring a statement it believes itself to be, but it's solid enough entertainment.