Never So Few

Another of my recent watches off the DVR was Never So Few. It's another of those movies that's available on DVD courtesy of the Warner Archive collection.

The scene is Burma in 1943, which as you should know from your history means World War II is still raging, in this case a part of the Asian theater which doesn't get quite as much mention from Hollywood movies as the Pacific or Europe. The local Kachin rebels, led by Nautaung (Philip Ahn), are getting help from the British, under Capt. De Mortimer (Richard Johnson), and US OSS (forerunner of the CIA) officer Captain Tom Reynolds (Frank Sinatra).

However, it's difficult work as the Kachin are out in the middle of nowhere meaning that support from the higher-ups is patchy at best. Specifically, one of Reynolds' underlings gets a wound that's not going to heal because of a lack of medicine, forcing Reynolds to shoot the guy! He then goes off to Calcutta, where western headquarters are, to try to get more medicine.

It's there that Reynolds meets Vesari (Gina Lollobrigida). Unsurprisingly, the two fall in love, although this is a bit of a problem what with the war going on and the fact that is technically the girlfriend of arms dealer Regas (Paul Henried) already. Still, the two see each other when they can. The trip to Calcutta is also a chance for Reynolds to get a new aide, Ringa (Steve McQueen).

The war goes on back in Burma, and Reynolds gets injured in a Japanese attack that surprised them to the point that the only possible explanation is that the Japanese got information from a Kachin embedded with the US and British forces! This is bad enough for Reynolds, but things go from bad to worse when he's ordered to engage in an operation with Chinese support, but the Chinese seemingly turn on them too, or at least don't provide the agreed-to support. So Reynolds turns on the Chinese, which is really going to get him into trouble.

It's fairly easy to see where the filmmakers were trying to go with Never So Few, but in my mind they didn't really quite succeed. I think that's a lot because the movie is more drama than action, and goes on too long at 124 minutes. It really feels like a very slow 124 minutes. The movie also has a formulaic feel as though it's not treading any new ground, only contributing further to the slow feeling.

Still, Never So Few is definitely a movie that fans of war movies or Sinatra or Steve McQueen are going to find of some interest to them. It's just absolutely not the first movie I'd select to recommend to people new to any of those.