In the middle of the Vietnam war, this World War II movie came out with the message "Nobody every wins". The storyline is of a small group of Japanese soldiers and American Marines stranded together on a island in the middle of the South Pacific: learning to overcome their differences and live together peacefully for a brief time. Each side starts out distrusting the other, until a medical emergency brings the pharmacist mate (Sinatra) to save the life of one of the Japanese soldiers. Trust and cooperation are finally lost when an American destroyer comes to pick up the Marines.
This movie was ground breaking, by telling a story from the point of view of the Japanese commander: less than 20 years after the end of World War II. The opening titles show Kanji characters for "Warner Bros Pictures" and the title, before the English equivalents. The opening and closing narration is that of the Japanese commander in English.
It also came out some 30 years before Clint Eastwood directed a pair of movies about the Battle of Iwo Jima ("Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima") which separately told its story from the American and Japanese sides.
This movie was ground breaking, by telling a story from the point of view of the Japanese commander: less than 20 years after the end of World War II. The opening titles show Kanji characters for "Warner Bros Pictures" and the title, before the English equivalents. The opening and closing narration is that of the Japanese commander in English.
It also came out some 30 years before Clint Eastwood directed a pair of movies about the Battle of Iwo Jima ("Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima") which separately told its story from the American and Japanese sides.