Prompt: Compare this film to Anchors Away and consider the difference between Sinatra and his male costars here. What aspects of his image are strongest? How does his image relate to his recording persona?
I really enjoyed watching this film on Tuesday because I have never seen it, but it has always been on my long list of movies to look at. Frank Sinatra plays the character of Danny Miller, a soldier in the U.S. Army who was posted over in England during WWII and cannot wait to get home to Brooklyn. At the beginning of the movie Danny seems to be very much cut from the same cloth as Clarence, Sinatra's character in Anchors Away. All of the other servicemen are downstairs socializing or dancing, but Danny is just sitting upstairs by himself. One of the nurses (played by Gloria Grahame) is incredulous when Danny says he's from Brooklyn, because that's where she is from and she feels that he's not extremely friendly like any of the guys she's ever known in Brooklyn. She also points out that compared to most of the other men in the military Danny is kind of an oddity; he doesn't have pictures of pinup girls (besides a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge which he says is his pinup), he doesn't whistle at her, and he doesn't even trade stories with the other guys. Clarence was also kind of a misfit in the Navy, and seemed to lack a lot of the social skills that the other guys had especially when it came to women. Not only do Sinatra's characters stand apart because of their personalities, but also because they don't quite fill out their uniforms which gives him a boyish air in both. Also in these two films Sinatra's character really appears to come out of his shell and be comfortable in his own skin when he is singing. It Happened in Brooklyn was made two years after Anchors Away, and Sinatra's singing voice seems to have a bit more confidence in it.
The two other main male characters who offer comparisons to Danny are Nick Lombardi (played by Jimmy Durante) and Jamie Shellgrove (played by Peter Lawford). When Danny is in England he meets Jamie, who is the grandson of an English duke. Jamie is repeatedly referred to as a "square," and he really has trouble talking to any women. Danny comes up with a whole plan to loosen Jamie up if Jamie ever wants to come and visit Brooklyn. It's kind of hard to tell if this sudden bravado is real or a show, but either way it works to convince Jamie's grandfather that Danny is the man who will be able to help his grandson start enjoying life. Once Jamie does travel to Brooklyn to stay with Danny for a bit, Danny tries to help him become comfortable with himself and find a girl. This is exactly what Joe tried to do for Clarence in Anchors Away, so it's interesting that now Sinatra plays the role of the helper. Also, Danny is the one who really works to put together the concert for Leo and takes the lead in getting support for it and organizing everything. While Sinatra's character is more assertive in this film, he still has some of the same complete cluelessness that Clarence had. Danny doesn't realize that Jamie and Anne have fallen in love with one another, and just continues to take it for granted almost until the very end that Anne is still his girl.
The other main male character is Nick, who is the janitor at Danny's old school. Nick really takes Danny under his wing and fills in the place of a father figure for him. One scene between Nick and Danny when they first get to Nick's apartment seems to echo Sinatra's real life; Nick has pictures of Mr. Chips all around his apartment and says that he went to see the picture 11 times, and he even read the book, but he still can't figure out why the kids like him so much. Many critics of Sinatra said the exact same thing, that they never could understand why all of the girls went so crazy for this skinny and gangly young man. Nick also brings up Bing Crosby a few times, and in real life Sinatra was compared to the legendary Crosby who was held up as a star that others should attain to be like.
One other scene that stands out to me as pertaining to Sinatra's life and his recording persona is when Danny is in the music store singing the song "Same Old Dream" for some of the kids who wanted to hear it. Danny sings it in a way that still seems to be based in the style of the crooners, which is not well received by the kids who go up and play the song in a much more upbeat, swing style. Danny is not convinced though and sings the song again in the style he thinks is best suited to the song, and this time once he finishes a bunch of the girls present in the store start screaming and stare at him in adoration. Sinatra's singing came under scrutiny even more after the war was over because it was geared towards a female audience and it still had a hint of the older, crooner style in it, and this is reflected in the musical taste of the kids in the film and how they only want to listen to upbeat, swing songs.
No comments:
Post a Comment