Narrated in English by a Japanese officer named Kuroki, a platoon of 16 Japanese soldiers is stranded on an island in the Pacific with no means of communicating with the outside world. Lieutenant Kuroki keeps his men firmly in hand and is supervising the building of a boat for their escape. An American C-47/R4Dtransport plane is shot down by a Japanese Zero, crash landing on the same island. The Zero and an American F4U Corsair destroy each other, with no outside commands learning of the island. Marine Aircraft Wing Captain Dennis Bourke assumes command of the platoon of Marines he was transporting, over their 2nd Lieutenant Blair and Sergeant Bleeker. Confidante to Bourke is Navy chief pharmacist's mate Francis. As the 19 Americans learn of the Japanese platoon’s existence on the island, tension mounts resulting in a battle for the Japanese boat. The vessel is destroyed and a Japanese soldier is seriously injured. Calling a truce, Koruki trades the Americans access to water in exchange for a visit from their doctor to treat the wounded soldier, whose leg has to be amputated. The truce results in both platoons, reduced in numbers through their earlier conflicts and later natural disasters, choosing to liveside by side - although a line is drawn forbidding one from encroaching on the other's side of the island. There is some clandestine cooperation and trading and earnest respect and friendship. When the Americans establish radio contact and their pickup by a US naval vessel is arranged, they demand that the Japanese surrender, but Koruki reestablishes that they are at war. As the Americans proceed to the beach, Bourke orders his men to be ready to shoot to kill. When they are ambushed by the remaining 8 men of the Japanese platoon, the remaining 11 Americans are given no option but to retaliate, resulting in a bloody and pointless firefight during which all the Japanese and most of the Americans are shot dead. Only Francis, Bourke, Bleeker, Blair and Corporal Ruffino survive the skirmish. They move onto the beach and wait to be rescued by the American naval vessel, stationed just offshore. Kuroki's final narration calls what he is to do "just another day." The film ends with a long shot of the island, superimposed with the words "Nobody ever wins".
The title is from the John Dryden poem, Alexander's Feast, stanza 1: "None but the brave/deserves the fair." This was the sixth of nine films produced by Frank Sinatra, and the only film he directed. The executive producers carried extra fame in their own right - William H. Daniels was former president of the American Society of Cinematographers, while Howard W. Koch was former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. During filming, on May 10, 1964 in Hawaii, Sinatra was caught in a riptide along with Ruth Koch, wife of Howard Koch. Actor Brad Dexter and two surfers were able to rescue Sinatra and Koch, saving their lives.
Release
None But the Brave was released in Japan on 15 January 1965 where it was distributed by Toho. It was released in the United States on February 1965.
Critical response
Upon release, The New York Times’ Bosley Crowther gave the production a largely negative review, writing, "A minimum show of creative invention and a maximum use of cinema clichés are evident in the staging of this war film," and "Mr. Sinatra, as producer and director, as well as actor of the secondary role of the booze-guzzling medical corpsman, displays distinction only in the latter job. Being his own director, he has no trouble stealing scenes, especially the one in which he burbles boozy wisecracks while preparing to saw off the shivering Japanese's leg. Mr. Sinatra is crashingly casual when it comes to keeping the Japanese in their place." Crowther also noted "Clint Walker … Tommy Sands … Brad Dexter … and Tony Bill … make over-acting—phony acting—the trademark of the film. What with incredible color and the incredible screenplay of Katsuya Susaki and John Twist, this adds up to quite a fake concoction." Current critic Robert Horton calls None but the Brave "a 1965 anti-war picture that turns out to be much more interesting and compelling than its reputation would suggest," that "predates the rash of anti-war counterculture movies by a few years," also noting that it "bears the influence of Bridge on the River Kwai with a little Mister Roberts thrown in, but it has a bitterness about war that goes all the way through to the forceful final title, a reflection of Sinatra's liberal views at the time.” Horton points out that Clint Eastwood received a lot of credit for making two films that showed World War II from the American and the Japanese sides, but that "in a way, Sinatra had already done it, and in one movie."
