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Never So Few (1959)

Director: John Sturges

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From Time Out Film Guide

OSS captain Sinatra (plus facial hair in the opening scenes) finds himself leading a handful of Kachin guerillas against the invading Japanese in this slack, but not uninteresting WWII adventure from Tom T Chamales' novel, which loses impetus when it lingers over the officer's romance with La Lollo, mistress of oily war profiteer Henreid. Elsewhere, it's indicative of Cold War tensions that attention turns in the end to the Chinese forces offering illegal cross-border support to Burmese warlords who've attacked the Americans, weighing Sinatra's impulsive revenge attack against the formalities of international diplomacy. Sharp-witted army fixer McQueen exudes star potential, even though he was a late replacement when Sinatra fell out with Sammy Davis Jr. A lucky break for the youngster who went on to make The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape with Sturges.

Author: TJ 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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usman khawaja said...

Posted on Sep 15 2008 17:23 A pleasant surprise to see in this day and age ,this is stereotyped ww2 drama with Sinatra as the brave yank from Indiana who is in love with the shark eating angloindian miss Desai played glamourously by Gina lolo,
but it is Steve mcqueen in a cameo as a sargeant from new york who is the scene- stealer as a rather cool,quiet and bourbon loving soldier impassive to both war and officers .
Sinatra has to fight the japs,his own superiors and Gina lolo as the woman who loves to hate the charming yankee soldier.
In addition there is a sub-plot involving the betrayal of americans by their chinese allies led by chiang kai shek forces dressed as chinese warlords aiding the japs ,
it gets quite confusing as to who is fighting whom but the acting is above average as are the production values and some it is blessed with some very neatly written scenes ,
the best is a sequence where sinatra leads a battalion of sick chunkin interns to demand better food supplies from the yankee administrators ,
also lolo has a rather colorful role as the luxury loving ,self indulgent indian woman who loves an american soldier for his honesty and dedication ,
but finally it is the tongue in cheek portrayal by steve mcqueen who renders this chinese american conflict amiable with his quietly humorous portayal of a strong man .
- jbz7879

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