Dunham16 The Rodgers and Hart musical opened on Broadway in 1940. In 1943 it became the film which launched Frank Sinatra albeit only one song from the play and only one performer, Jack Haley from the play. Its cinematic delights include torch song icon Helen Morgan not singing a torch song as the genre's doyenne, merely listening in silence to Frank Sinatra making his successful launch film debut singing the type of song she was responsible for popularizing. Tne film opens with not the first portrayal in a grand house a la UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAINS and DOWNTON ABBEY of the upstairs and downstairs residents but as a musical to stir thought and concept. Agreed the plot is familiar. Familiar names from Jack Haley as the main lead to Mary Wickes, Victor Borge, Mel Torme and Barbara Hale in supporting parts provide cinematic historic reference as filmed younger and fresher as we recall them in the millennium. Despite some repetitive forties movie rut the glorious editing and black and white cinematography and the exciting flameproof exploration as the two aforementioned certainly worth an 8.

writers_reign Sinatra completists will, of course, want even The Kissing Bandit in their DVD collections so this is a given. I have mixed feelings; as a lifetime Sinatra fan I naturally want his first actual appearance in a leading role - he had appeared twice as the uncredited vocalist with the Tommy Dorsey outfit and later in Reveille With Beverley but here was performing songs specifically written for him albeit working as himself, Frank Sinatra, opposite a group of actors playing fictional roles - but I'm also a lifetime Rodgers and Hart fan and it's not easy to see their whole Broadway score jettisoned - with the exception of about one third of Disgustingly Rich in favor of a specially commissioned score by Jimmy McHugh. The fact that Sinatra gets to perform three great numbers and went on to record a great song from the Broadway show on his Wee Small Hours album is neither here nor there. The cast is a dream for film buffs. Michele Morgan was arguably the heaviest hitter with a string of French classics behind her but we also get the great Mary Wickes, Mel Torme, Marcy McGuire, Leon Errol and Victor Borge - it is his strong resemblance to Borge that makes it difficult to take Arsene Wenger seriously - and strange choice leading man Jack Haley, then 45 with his Tin Man days firmly behind him. As a light-hearted comedy with songs it would have certainly hit the spot in 1943 and is still likable today.

caa821 Mel Torme and Victor Borge, in their younger years, serve to make this film interesting - and especially viewing a young Sinatra, on the sunny side of 30, and definitely conveying that this was his "yes, I'm a popular singer, but hardly an actor yet" stage. Michele Morgan is an annoying, inane presence, and Jack Haley is an actor whose appeal has always been totally lost on me. Leon Erroll is silly, as always, but overall pretty funny. 7 stars of a potential 10 is about the right "grade," because with the combination of its positive aspects, along with the lack of much of a story, and a silly one at that, and the fore-mentioned annoyances - it is overall average at best. Most of the fascination is from the viewing of the three entertainment icons in their early years.

Liz-66 After watching this movie for no other reason than I was sick from school and it was on television, I recommend it if only for the chance to see such a young Frank Sinatra in action. (Especially the great scene at the "Butler's Ball.") I thought the actress who played Millie, the main character, was rather annoying, but the rest of the cast is great, especially the different servants.