Unlike in From Here to Eternity, Kings Go Forth sees Frank Sinatra as a more stable character however here too we find “trouble in paradise”. Sinatra is an Army officer who begins to fall in love with a French girl where he is stationed. However trouble begins when the girl declares that her biological father was black.
After reading Sinatra’s various remarks on race relations in America it seems almost ironic that his character at first has trouble dealing with this fact.
Compared to The House I Live In, Kings Go Forth differs not only by the obvious fact that the girl is half black and not religiously different but more importantly it touches upon the subject of cohabitation between blacks and whites. The House I Live In is more or less comparatively tame in its message. In fact all the kids involved where white, and instead of focusing on the subject of racial differences it instead talks about religious differences and patriotism and standing together against those no good dirty Japs, which after the fact seems a bit racist in it of itself. Kings Go Forth is in a way also tame because the girl, Monique, is only half black thus making it only half a problem for Sinatra’s character.
I wonder how the reception by the audience and the character’s resolutions would change if Monique were fully black or if instead of Frank Sinatra it were a black man and the girl was white?
Ever wonder what a duet with Sinatra and Stevie Wonder would be like? SNL did and its hilarious!
Until next time, over and out!
You raise an interesting point about housing and race in "Kings Go Forth" and "The House I Live In". Is Frank's relationship with the half-black girl in "Kings Go Forth" acceptable because she's only half-black, or is it permissible because they're in France? If we look at "The House I Live In" as a reference point, it seems like cohabitation between a white man and a half-black girl would be just as unacceptable as a Jewish kid living down the street.
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