Whelan, Tim

Frank Sinatra - The Early Years Collection (It Happened in Brooklyn / Step Lively / The Kissing Bandit / Double Dynamite / Higher and Higher)

The young, skinny Frank Sinatra was a big-band singer and the heartthrob of the bobby-soxers when he launched his movie career--a moment in time memorably captured by Frank Sinatra: The Early Years Collection. Five movies take the gangly kid from Hoboken through his hesitant first forays into the Hollywood game; everything here is in the minor-but-tuneful category, before he re-launched his career with From Here to Eternity. It's a fun set for Sinatra fans, not so essential for the casual viewer (and no extra features for vintage-movie mavens). Frankie's first feature, in 1943, was Higher and Higher, in which he plays--hmm--a young singer named Frank Sinatra. All right, it's not much of a stretch, but the kid fits quite comfortably into a madcap ensemble that includes Jack Haley, Mary Wickes, Dooley Wilson, and a youthful (practically unformed) Mel Torme. This is the kind of wacky universe in which a scullery maid has a French accent (it's Michele Morgan) and a British nobleman has a Danish accent (it's piano comedian Victor Borge). The film is completely insane, but fun. Step Lively (1944) has the same director, Tim Whelan, and a similarly over-heated farce in play: a theatrical producer (obnoxious George Murphy) tries to whip together a show while dodging hotel managers (Adolphe Menjou, deadpan Walter Slezak). Frankie's in there as a playwright who also sings. It's a version of the Broadway play that also served the Marx Brothers in Room Service, but the whole thing is really too labored to pay off. It Happened in Brooklyn (1947) doesn't offer much in the way of substance (Sinatra is a WWII vet returning to his beloved, but now less friendly, Brooklyn), but at least Frank is teamed with Jimmy Durante. Oh, and Kathryn Grayson and Gloria Grahame are in there too, even if the real love match is Sinatra and Durante singing together. Tunes are by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, including "Time After Time."

1948's The Kissing Bandit became for Sinatra what The Silver Chalice would be for Paul Newman: a source of self-mockery in later years. A truly bizarre concoction about the son of a Zorro-like bandit settling in Boston, the film has one specialty number featuring Cyd Charisse, Ann Miller, and Ricardo Montalban, and a lot of filler. Sinatra's career was sliding by the time Double Dynamite (1951) was released, and the movie did little to help. Frankie's a poor bank clerk who scores on a horse-racing bet but can't prove he didn't actually rob the bank. It isn't great, although Groucho Marx at least has one of his better solo roles, while Jane Russell is stuck in a dizzy-dame part (rather than her preferred sassy mode). For Sinatra, career resurgence would have to wait a while--this box set gives you the superstar-in-waiting. --Robert Horton

Includes Double Dynamite It Happened in Brooklyn Step Lively Higher and Higher and The Kissing Bandit.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/CLASSICS Rating: NR UPC: 883929011520 Manufacturer No: 1000037360

Higher and Higher

Madcap movies don't come much madder than Higher and Higher, a 1943 musical best known as the feature debut of Frank Sinatra. In fact, he plays a character called "Frank Sinatra," an aspiring singer drawn into the zany doings at the mansion next door. Seems the patriarch of the place is flat busted, and needs to invent a blueblood daughter to marry off to the nearest eligible millionaire. Manservant (and former Wizard of Oz Tin Man) Jack Haley is in charge of the shenanigans, and scullery maid Michele Morgan is drafted as the daughter (but can't Haley see she's really in love with him?). This is the kind of wacky movie universe in which the blue-collar maid has a French accent and the English nobleman has a Danish accent (it's piano comedian Victor Borge). The songs include "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night" and one Rodgers and Hart number, "Disgustingly Rich." The cast is a hoot: here's Mel Tormé in his first movie, here's horse-faced wisecracker Mary Wickes, here's Casablanca crooner Dooley Wilson. And of course Sinatra at his skinniest, sounding very dulcet of voice. The well-traveled Tim Whelan directed, and he must've done something to make Sinatra feel comfortable--the kid looks like a natural. --Robert Horton

Formerly rich Mr. Drake is broke...with his household staff's wages seven months in arrears. Conniving valet Mike O'Brien hatches a scheme to pass off scullery maid Millie as Drake's debutante daughter and net a rich husband for the benefit of all. But all kinds of complications romantic and otherwise intervene...Running Time: 90 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/CLASSICS UPC: 883929010301 Manufacturer No: 1000037096

Vivien Leigh Classics (Dark Journey, Fire Over England, Sidewalks of London, Storm in a Teacup)

4 Classic Vivien Leigh Movies on 2 DVDs
Digitally Re-Mastered

Dark Journey (1937, also starring Conrad Veidt) Madeline Goddard (Leigh), is a British double agent who meets and falls in love with a German spy Baron Karl Von Marwitz (Veidt) during WWI. This tale of espionage blends high adventure and romance making perfect order from wartime chaos and growing faith from despair.

Fire Over England (1937, also starring Laurence Olivier and Raymond Massey) Spain and England clash in this exciting war adventure. After a foiled plot to depose Queen Elizabeth I, Michael Ingolby (Olivier) goes undercover to infiltrate the court of King Phillip the II of Spain.

Sidewalks Of London (a.k.a St. Martin's Lane. 1938, also starring Charles Laughton and Rex Harrison) Charles Saggers (Laughton) adds a talented dancer and pickpocket, Libby (Leigh), to his sidewalk act in London theater district. Theater patron, Harley Prentiss (Harrison) is impressed by Libby's dancing. A theatrical career is launched when Libby attends Prentiss' after-the-play-party alone.

Storm In A Teacup (1937, also starring Rex Harrison) An English newspaper reporter, Frank Burdon (Harrison), meets the beautiful Victoria Gow (Leigh), daughter of a wealthy legal figure in town. When Leigh's father orders an impoverished woman's dog be destroyed, Frank tries to save the dog's life.

Thief of Bagdad (1940)

Often hailed as the greatest fantasy film ever made, The Thief of Bagdad (1940) was producer Alexander Korda's crowning achievement. Deservedly winning Academy Awards for art direction, color cinematography, and special effects, this Arabian Nights adventure appeals to all ages with its fantastical tale of Abu (Sabu), the little thief who befriends the prince of Bagdad (John Justin) and foils the nefarious plans of the evil grand vizier (Conrad Veidt), who seizes control of Bagdad and covets the princess of Basra (Joan Duprez). From its gorgeous, epic-scale sets to flying horses, magic carpets, and, best of all, Rex Ingram's towering jinni of the bottle, this Thief has all the magic of the tales that inspired it, and vibrant Technicolor brings it all to life in dazzling style. Six esteemed directors worked on this infamously troubled production, but the final result exceeded all expectations, becoming an instant classic that endures to this day. --Jeff Shannon

Step Lively

Gordon Miller (George Murphy) has a hit in the works especially since he latched onto a playwright whose real talent is his singing voice. Now all that flim-flamming Miller must do is put his musical revue on stage before the rubber check underwriting it bounces his troupe from Broadway to the Bowery. As the typewriter-toting crooner Frank Sinatra steps into his first top billing in this antic backstage musical based on the Broadway/Marx Brothers movie hit Room Service. With a nimble cast (including Gloria DeHaven Adolphe Menjou and Walter Slezak) and buoyant Sammy Cahn/Julie Styne songs to go with farce footlights and Frank what else can a movie do but Step Lively?Running Time: 88 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/CLASSICS UPC: 883929010295 Manufacturer No: 1000037097

Step Lively is based on the hit Broadway farce Room Service, which had already served as a Marx Brothers vehicle by the time it got this 1944 re-do. The breathless plot is about a theater producer trying to close a deal while staying ahead of some hand-wringing hotel managers, who would understandably like to be paid for putting up his entourage while rehearsals are in session. A variety of songs and dances are crammed into this labored structure, some of delivered in the sweet youthful tones of Frank Sinatra (as a playwright who also happens to sing like an angel). The impresario is played by George Murphy, a light-footed dancer at his most obnoxious here (he was a future U.S. Senator from California), and the impatient hotel managers are Adolphe Menjou and a deadpan Walter Slezak. The songs are by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, and Sinatra gets to croon "As Long as There's Music," but by the time the show-stoppers from the stage musical take over, the movie has gone way, way over the top. The early look at skinny Frankie is worth it, but you have to have a high tolerance for noise to endure the rest. --Robert Horton

Rage at Dawn

St. Martin's Lane/Wings of the Morning

Laurel & Hardy - Flying Deuces/Utopia

Utopia

Stan and Olie set out into the great blue yonder to explore their newly acquired land.

Rage at Dawn