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From humble beginnings to becoming ‘the Voice’, Frank
Sinatra’s life and career is something to be marvelled at. Before Elvis was
causing crazy girl riots, there was ‘Ol Blue Eyes who charmed his legions of
Bobby Soxers time and time again. Suffering the trials and tribulations of 2
marriages, mass slamming from the columnists, and deep slumps in his career;
Sinatra’s resilience continues to make for a celebrity story that sparks
admiration and respect.
So it would
seem that I’m on a bit of a Frank Sinatra bender tonight: this little doco came
in my Sinatra triple pack and I figured why not give it a try. I’m not usually
a fan of docos, I really have to love the subject or person they’re about, but
I do have to admit that this is the first doco that I’ve seen that is actually
quite dated. For me, docos have always been an acquired taste, but until
tonight I never really considered that there could be good and bad docos like
there are in movies. Look at that, you learn something new every day.
From
humble beginnings to becoming ‘the Voice’, Frank Sinatra’s life and career is
something to be marvelled at. Before Elvis was causing crazy girl riots, there
was ‘Ol Blue Eyes who charmed his legions of Bobby Soxers time and time again.
Suffering the trials and tribulations of 2 marriages, mass slamming from the
columnists, and deep slumps in his career; Sinatra’s resilience continues to
make for a celebrity story that sparks admiration and respect.
There are really
only two things I can draw opinion on when discussing this doco. On the bad
side of the spectrum, just to get it out of the way, it’s pretty badly done and
lacking in technique. Now, to be fair, I don’t actually know what year this was
made in, therefore it could be that a lot of its ‘badness’ comes merely from
its being hugely dated by modern standards. It’s important to remember that the
art of documentary making has probably evolved just as much as cinema and
therefore earlier ones should not be judged so harshly. What struck me as being
a little off-centre and ‘bad’ was the jagged editing, the lack of flow
(everything, all aspects of Sinatra’s life were quickly thrown together and
merely glossed over), and the trying narration, which was made up of a language
of the masses rather than any academic or even glossy and professional tone.
My
second point of discussion bats for both teams in a way as a fair portion of
this feature is made up of scenes from Sinatra’s movies as well as TV and
vintage footage (that has seen better days: it’s all granulated and very hard
to focus on), giving the entire doco more of a montage feel. Having said this,
I learned quite a bit about Sinatra’s film career and discovered that there are
so many movies of his that I’ve never seen (and I can myself a fan pah). For
me, there’s always a little spark that accompanies a cast list: when you see
two names together and go “wow I’ve got to see that!” Sinatra did many films
with Gene Kelly, Tony Curtis, and Shirley MacLaine, all people whom I love and
I didn’t know this? What sort of film buff am I hmm?
There are many stories,
reports, and anecdotes harboured within this doco that are fascinating, it can’t
be denied that Sinatra had a fascinating life, but ultimately I found this doco
just to be too dated and jagged to really enjoy.
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