Book Review: Frank Sinatra on the Big Screen

After all my travels and film festivals this spring, I've now got several enticing recent books stacked up which I'm looking forward to reviewing this summer!

First up for review is FRANK SINATRA ON THE BIG SCREEN: THE SINGER AS ACTOR AND FILMMAKER by James L. Neibaur and Gary Schneeberger. I read a .pdf copy of this book, which was published by McFarland in late May.

As it happens, one of the very earliest books in my film book library was THE FILMS OF FRANK SINATRA by Gene Ringgold and Clifford McCarthy, published by Citadel Press in 1971; I bought it at Larry Edmunds Bookshop as a teen a few years after it came out. It's amazing to think that earlier book is now over 50 years old!

THE FILMS OF FRANK SINATRA is an enjoyable read which definitely served to generate interest in numerous then-unseen-by-me Sinatra films, but aside from the intro section, it's chiefly a photo book. Each film entry consists of credits, the plot, and review excerpts, with the book's most interesting aspect being the beautifully reproduced photos. This definitely left a big gap for a later Sinatra book to fill with more information and analysis, and FRANK SINATRA ON THE BIG SCREEN does so admirably.

FRANK SINATRA ON THE BIG SCREEN has a much denser text and is more focused on history and film criticism than photos, though it has those too; each film entry is illustrated with one or two black and white photographs. After beginning with just a few pages of introduction and a discussion of Sinatra's career before films, the book then launches immediately into a look at his first starring film, HIGHER AND HIGHER (1943) -- which also happens to be one of the first Sinatra films I ever saw as a child.

The book examines each of Sinatra's films in chronological order; while the entries in FRANK SINATRA ON THE BIG SCREEN do include the type of information found in THE FILMS OF FRANK SINATRA, including brief plot synopses and contemporaneous critical response, it goes into much more depth than the older book. The entries review not just each film as a whole but zero in on the highlights (or lowlights!) of Sinatra's performance; the chronological chapters thus combine to trace the evolution of his screen talent.

The review of HIGHER AND HIGHER is a good example, mentioning that he's not called to act for sustained periods before he resumes singing and noting that he's physically awkward during musical numbers. This contrasts with ANCHORS AWEIGH (1945) just a couple years later, where Sinatra "astonished" audiences with his "vigorous dancing" with Gene Kelly.

Some of the reviews are pretty tough; for instance, THE KISSING BANDIT (1948) is said to have "nothing to offer," and while I agree the film and Sinatra are relatively weak, it does contain one of my all-time favorite MGM dance scenes, featuring Ricardo Montalban, Cyd Charisse, and Ann Miller, so the film is valuable to me for that reason. However, such minor disagreements with other film lovers and historians can be interesting and enjoyable to contemplate.

Contrasted with that personal quibble, I really liked the smart analysis scattered throughout; for instance, there's an examination of how the relationships of Kelly and Sinatra's characters evolve through their three films together which gave me a "lightbulb" moment thinking about how their characters flip a bit in their final joint film, ON THE TOWN (1949), with Kelly playing a more naive character similar to the types Sinatra played in their earlier movies.

MEET DANNY WILSON (1951) is also interesting as it's noted this was Sinatra's first chance to play "a character whose primary qualities were something other than shyness, naivete and sincerity." The film was also an important indicator of how Sinatra had grown onscreen since 1943, which he would fully demonstrate in his Oscar-winning role in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1951).

I was also particularly glad to see the appreciation for Sinatra's "bravura performance" with a "demonic edge" in SUDDENLY (1954), a film I admire and wish were more widely seen.

While I've seen a significant number of Sinatra's films of the '40s and '50s, I have little acquaintance with his movies past that point. I've collected a number of them, so the chapters on Sinatra's films from the '60s on were quite educational for me and helped me prioritize what I'd like to watch first. TONY ROME (1967) and THE DETECTIVE (1968) sound like the kind of films I'd particularly enjoy.

I liked that each entry lists the film's songs, which makes the book a nice quick reference source in that regard. In addition to the film history, the book periodically notes what was happening in Sinatra's recording career in parallel to his movies, which is an interesting juxtaposition; for instance, the same year my favorite Sinatra film, THE TENDER TRAP (1955), was released saw the release of his classic LP IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS.

A postscript: Towards the end of the book it notes that Sinatra's gravestone reads "The Best is Yet to Come"; I shared a photo of that gravestone here myself in 2017. However, in a weird relatively recent twist not noted in the book, the gravestone mysteriously changed circa late 2020 and now reads "Sleep Warm, Poppa." The new stone can be seen via FindaGrave. Co-author James Neibaur has noted on Twitter that the book was written in 2020 but publication was delayed by McFarland due to COVID, so I'm assuming that accounts for it not being mentioned.  It's such a curious story -- no one has specifically taken responsibility for the change, though the implications make it fairly obvious -- that it seemed worth updating that fact in this review.

The print copy of FRANK SINATRA ON THE BIG SCREEN is 264 pages including footnotes, bibliography, and index.

FRANK SINATRA ON THE BIG SCREEN: THE SINGER AS ACTOR AND FILMMAKER is a thoughtful and informative book which enriched my understanding of the film career of my favorite singer and is a valuable addition to my reference library.

Thanks to McFarland and co-author James L. Neibaur for providing an e-copy of this book for review.

Tweet