I'm in the middle of reading Tony Curtis's new biography, "American Prince" and his description of "Kings Go Forth" doesn't sound correct to me. He says that Natalie Wood's character gets pregnant and finds out that her child is black, which makes both men rethink their relationship with her. Am I forgetting this part of the movie, or is he correct? I thought they found out that she was half African American and that was what the problem was.
shareI think it's implied that she becomes pregnant. Sinatra knows that she is half black, thinks it over and is OK with it. Curtis finds out somewhat into the relationship and does not seem to be comfortable with it. Curtis gives Wood the impression that he loves her (to the point of marrying her) but near the end tells Sinatra that it was just 'for fun.' In the end, when Sinatra is willing to marry a seemingly disgraced Wood, she may agree because she is pregnant by Curtis. (Early on Wood told Sinatra that she did not love him and then becomes infatuated with Curtis). Probably Curtis doesn't want to have a mixed kid, and that's why he dumped her.
shareP.S. to my previous post. There is a scene where Curtis tells Wood's mother that he is dumping her specifically because she is not white. I had forgotten that. Wood then tries to commit suicide so she is likely pregnant. Either way, she is disgraced.
shareYes, there's no pregnancy, only an attempt at suicide once she finds out Tony Curtis is a sexual tourist. In the novel, by Joe David Brown, she drowns, but they changed that up for the film in favor of Sinatra's return and the (thinly) implied marriage at the end.
shareSounds good. Maybe I will read the novel, do you know the name of it? Thanks.
shareSounds good. Maybe I will read the novel, do you know the name of it? Thanks.
I believe the novel's title is the same as the film's.
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half African-American???
so they wouldn't like her because she had dual citizenship? I don't understand.
There is no pregnancy. Not in the novel and not in the movie.
I highly doubt that even if the writers were going to stray from the novel they would stay as far as introducing a pregnancy into the mix considering they already had racism and miscegenation as themes. Already highly controversial stuff for 1958 standards...
Curtis was known to "bend" the facts many times in his career.
Another instance pertaining to the film is Curtis stating that Dorothy Dandridge who was 35 at the time to Curtis' 32 should have played "Monique" the "young, protected" daughter of a white Mother .
Ms Dandridge was mentioned when the cast was being assembled but she was a black woman. The moving going public knew this.
How could a black woman play a character where her race was hidden for the first half of the picture?
Monique is not "Sarah Jane" (Peola in the novel) of Sirk's "Imitation of Life" in which we know she is biracial right from the beginning...
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Well, Curtis probably just forgot the plot. It wasn't so important a movie to his career -and it may not have taken too long to make. So it just didn't stay in his mind.
I just watched it. The performances are really excellent. Yes, Natalie Wood plays a biracial young woman - French. Of course genes being what they are, some who are biracial look lighter than others - and there is not much attempt to make Natalie Wood look dark. So it comes as a surprise in the movie.
This fact means nothing to Sinatra's character - who quite convincingly plays someone deeply in love. This fact means something to Curtis - but one is given the strong sense that his character would have sought to win her - without real consequence - whatever her race. Curtis is very good as a charming, handsome, quick-witted young man favored throughout life - and conscious of this - who, at bottom, has no depth or conviction or character. Curtis's character really is interesting - he's so remorseful toward the end - yet knows he's weak and won't change.
The story is told against the backdrop of a dangerous mission on which the two are embarked.
It's a very gripping movie - even if the story (having the two involved with the same mission - be the same two in the mission) is rather contrived. Excellent performances by the principals - and the moving portrayal of Natalie Wood's French mother.