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NR | 2h 5m | Drama, War | 1959
Hollywood’s WWII movies have marched through France, Italy, North Africa, and the Pacific for decades, while the Burma campaign in Southeast Asia has produced a much shorter list of titles. “Objective, Burma!” got there in 1945, “The Purple Plain” followed in 1954, and one of my personal favorites, Samuel Fuller’s “Merrill’s Marauders,” arrived in 1962.
“Never So Few” (1959) was another rare Hollywood trip into the Burma campaign. The Office of Strategic Services, an American unit known as OSS Detachment 101, recruited thousands of native Kachin fighters from northern Burma, who were a tremendous help to the Allies.
Kachin units were not only able to effectively scout Japanese positions, but they also wrecked supply lines and carried out deadly raids far from the usual front lines.
The film was adapted from a novel by Tom T. Chamales, a World War II veteran who had served with both Merrill’s Marauders and OSS Detachment 101; he eventually commanded Kachin forces during his wartime service. MGM bought the screen rights before the novel even reached bookstores.
The cast starts with Frank Sinatra playing an Army captain, Gina Lollobrigida bringing considerable movie-star glamour, and a supporting cast which includes Peter Lawford, Charles Bronson, Dean Jones, Brian Donlevy, and Richard Johnson. Steve McQueen also appears, beginning his association with director John Sturges just before “The Magnificent Seven” sent his film career surging into the stratosphere.
Jungle Patrols and Calcutta Nights
The story begins in Burma in 1943. U.S. Army Capt. Tom Reynolds (Sinatra) and British Capt. Danny De Mortimer (Johnson) run a small OSS detachment alongside Kachin fighters led by Nautaung (Philip Ahn).
Japanese forces are active throughout the region. Reynolds and his men are short on supplies, medicine, and proper medical care. Reynolds and De Mortimer head to Calcutta, India, to demand help from headquarters.
Waiting for them there is Cpl. Bill Ringa (McQueen), their newly assigned driver. He’s a hustler with a smart mouth, a useful streak of nerve, and access to booze when there really shouldn’t be any.
Calcutta also brings Reynolds into the company of Carla Vesari (Lollobrigida), the beautiful girlfriend of wealthy merchant Nikko Regas (Paul Henreid). Reynolds takes an immediate interest in her, and a leave trip to the Himalayan foothills gives him plenty of opportunity to pursue her.
During the same trip, De Mortimer falls ill, and the men meet Capt. Grey Travis (Lawford), an Army doctor whom Reynolds soon manages to get assigned to his undermanned outfit. By the time the group heads back to Burma, Reynolds has acquired a doctor, a resourceful new aide, and a relationship with Carla that remains very much on his mind.
Back in the Kachin hills, Japanese attacks put the unit straight back to work. Reynolds eventually receives orders for another operation near the Chinese border, where a new problem is awaiting his men.
Sturges, Sinatra, and the Jungle
This film has the bones of a terrific war picture. Every time Sturges gets Capt. Reynolds back into Burma, the movie sparks up. The patrols, ambushes, and raids have the muscular staging Sturges was already good at; it’s impressive to behold, with men scattered across wide CinemaScope frames. The film was shot in rich Metrocolor, although the mixture of studio work and location footage occasionally shows its seams.
Sinatra always knew how to play a guy whose temper arrives several seconds before his manners, yet some of the film’s problems start to crop up during his long courtship of Carla. Lollobrigida certainly looks magnificent in her gowns and gets in some playful business (particularly the bathtub scene).
However, the schmaltzy romance eats up a hefty portion of this over two-hour war film, and the two stars never sold me on this supposed grand passion. After the umpteenth round of flirting, action in Burma started sounding pretty inviting.
McQueen’s Bill Ringa provides some of the most fun moments in the entire picture. His entrance, which involves military police, contraband booze, and a devilish smirk, announces a screen personality already close to the one which audiences around the world would soon know.
Bronson is also around as Sgt. John Danforth, a Navajo soldier who’s used for coded communications, though the script leaves his potentially interesting character sitting near the edge of the group.
At 125 minutes, “Never So Few” wanders enough that I kept wishing somebody at MGM had brought a pair of scissors into the editing room. The Calcutta romance holds up the Burma campaign for long stretches. Nevertheless, there’s still plenty of great stuff here that viewers will enjoy.
I’d recommend this movie to anyone who’s curious about a sorely neglected WWII campaign or any of the film’s stars.
“Never So Few” is available on Apple TV, Amazon, and YouTube.
‘Never So Few’
Director: John Sturges
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Lawford
Not Rated
Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes
Release Date: Dec. 7, 1959
Rated: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
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