SINATRA 100 - A FILM LECTURE SERIES IN HONOR OF THE CENTENARY OF HIS BIRTH

Wednesdays, May 6 - June 3, 2015 at 1:00 PM

There he sits, apparently between shots on a movie set. Although Frank Sinatra logged more time in recording studios and on concert and nightclub stages during his lengthy career, he was able to parlay his success into all kinds of media: radio, television, and, germane to this post, movies.

It was only natural that Hollywood would come calling in the early 1940s, at a time when young Francis Albert Sinatra was making bobby-soxers swoon at venues like New York's Paramount Theater. He was "all the rage," as they say, and Hollywood wanted a piece of the action.

What followed was a film career that carried him into the early 1980s, although the last two decades showed a decrease in output.

But, for a time, Sinatra was a constant presence up on the big screen, appearing in musicals (naturally), dramas, comedies, detective stories, war pictures, even a western or two.

This coming December will mark the 100th anniversary of Sinatra's birth, and I thought that it would be a good time for us to share a handful of the close to 60 movies that the Chairman of the Board made.

On the Town teamed the slim, jug-eared movie neophyte with star Gene Kelly and fellow supporting player Jules Munshin, in Leonard Bernstein's and Comden & Green's story of three sailors' 24-hour shore leave in the city that, Sinatra would tell us decades later in song, "doesn't sleep"--namely, New York. Vera-Ellen, Ann Miller, and Betty Garrett offered fine support in this singing-dancing extravaganza.

From Here to Eternity, based on the James Jones novel set on a Hawaiian army base shortly before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, was part of a career renaissance that Sinatra experienced in the early 1950s, after he hit rock bottom personally and professionally. Playing a private with a chip on his shoulder who runs afoul of a sadistic stockade warden, Sinatra won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award--one of eight gold statuettes that the production earned.

No longer a supporting player, Ol Blue Eyes headlined a 1955 film noted for its frank (you'll pardon the pun) depiction of a heroin addict in The Man With the Golden Arm. Sinatra earned an Oscar nomination for his harrowing portrayal of a one-time junkie who struggles to turn his life around. With Kim Novak, Darren McGavin, and Eleanor Parker.

Pal Joey, the screen adaptation of the Broadway hit, was retooled to serve as a permanent record, if you will, of the 1950s-era Sinatra, with a reputation for being a likable cad with a knack for charming the ladies. Torn between wealthy socialite Rita Hayworth and young chorus girl Kim Novak, Sinatra got to sing those great Rodgers and Hart songs with arrangements from his Capitol Records arranger of the day, Nelson Riddle.

We conclude the series with The Manchurian Candidate, one of the greatest political thrillers ever committed to film. Sinatra played a former Korean War military commander troubled by dreams involving an officer who served with him during the war. Laurence Harvey, Janet Leight, and Angela Lansbury all lent solid support in this tense exploration of America's Cold War fears.

I look forward to seeing you in May, as we collectively salute the cinematic career of a man who stands as, arguably, one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century--or of any century.

Doug Swiszcz
Librarian and Film Enthusiast

Here's the lineup, at a glance:

May  6: On The Town - 1949 - Color - 98 minutes

May 13: From Here to Eternity - 1953 - Black & white - 118 minutes

May 20: The Man With the Golden Arm - 1955 - Black & white - 119 minutes

May 27: Pal Joey - 1957 - Color - 111 minutes

June   3: The Manchurian Candidate - 1962 - Black & white - 126 minutes