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Never So Few Blu-ray Review

“Never So Few” is for a select few.

In this WWII set film, the story revolves around Captain Reynolds and a group of OSS operatives in Burma helping out Kachin natives in the brutal fight against Japanese soldiers. Aside from that main storyline, there are also two key plots involving Reynolds love interest (a married woman named Carla) and a group of Chinese rebels killing American soldiers.

On paper, “Never So Few” looks to be a sure thing. A John Sturges directed WWII film with a truly all-star cast comprised of Frank Sinatra, Charles Bronson, Dean Jones, Richard Johnson, Gina Lollobrigida, with small roles by George Takei, Mako, and James Hong can’t be bad, right? Unfortunately, despite having so much talent, this movie is an utter slog to get through.

I will start off by saying the movie isn’t without merit. There are dark dramatic moments that work, Steve McQueen and Richard Johnson give the film a little spark whenever they are on screen, and some of the sets and location shooting are impressive. Alas, everything around these parts is tough to wade through. First and foremost, Frank Sinatra does not belong in this movie nor does it look like he belongs here. Until the last 20 or so minutes where the actor finally seemed to wake up, he looks entirely disinterested in the part for the majority of the runtime. It doesn’t help that he is saddled with an atrocious tacked on romance with Gina Lollobrigida’s character. It’s no fault of hers, it’s all about how the romance and characters are written (which is poorly).

As for the “war” element, the movie does a real disservice to the real events that took place and is instead more focused on action oriented battle scenes that lack any sort of impact.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 2.35:1 1080p. How does it look? As underwhelming as the movie is, this colorful new transfer does not disappoint.

Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? A solid 5.1 track that doesn’t quite sound as impactful as most 5.1 track.

The lone extra is a trailer for “Never So Few.”

September 3, 2018 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Charles Bronson, Frank Sinatra, Never So Few Blu-ray Review, Steve McQueen, Warner Archive