Directed by Frank Sinatra
Written by John Twist and Katsuya Susaki; story by Kikumada Okuda
1965/Japan/USA
Warner Bros./Tokyo Eiga Co. Ltd./Toho Film Co. Ltd./Artanis Productions Inc./Sinatra Enterprises
First viewing/FilmStruck
[box] None but the brave deserves the fair. — John Dryden[/box]
Nepotism puts the nail in the coffin of Frank Sinatra’s sole directing credit.
The setting is an isolated island in the Pacific during World War II. A platoon of Marines crash lands onto the island only to find it is already occupied by an small unit of Japanese soldiers. There is no means of escape, supplies are very short, and the men decide to cooperate. Matters come to a head when a boat comes to rescue the Japanese and the men move back into combat mode.
This movie is pretty bad and the main defect is the character of 2nd Lt. Blair, played by then Sinatra son-in-law Tommy Sands. Blair is the kind of gung ho rookie that gets on everyone’s last nerve – unfortunately this includes the audience. He is meant to provide comic relief but is just ultra annoying. No wonder Tommy and Nancy divorced that year.
Well I never knew – a lost theme song post
This is a song that I return to every now and then cos it is just so damned good and is fairly often said to be a missed classic that was simply out of its time, so there’s a good chance you won’t know it.
Today I just read* that “The title Shake Some Action originates from a line in the 1965 film None but the Brave.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIcmk8WA10A
* and after typing that I realised that it was a quote from one of my fav long songs and a genuine “where did they get that one from, so unlike anything else they did”)
Hmmm that nails it – Youtube comment
You might call it rock ‘n roll. You might call it jazz. You might call it blues. Or you might just call it original & inventive & sublime & ethereal & like nothing else you have heard before or since.
What a great way to start a Monday! Had to look up the lyrics to try to find the tie-in and still not successful. Thanks for the good music.
From Wikipedia
“The title Shake Some Action originates from a line in the 1965 film None but the Brave.”
So I assume in the movie at some time someone says “Shake some action” – movie unseen by me.
Glad you enjoyed the music – they are on the 1001 tunes list of mine
Checked IMDb, which contains no quotes for this one …