It Happened in Brooklyn

Before they became members of The Rat Pack, Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford were both M-G-M contract players taking any picture offered them. So it was that one of their early teamings was in the studio's black-and-white musical entry, It Happened in Brooklyn. The other stars are Kathryn Grayson and the ever scene-stealing Jimmy Durante. The thin plots concern show biz aspirants in a romantic triangle helping an aspiring piano prodigy one age-17-shy of the requirement for a scholarship. That's pretty much it in a nutshell but despite that the acting performances, which includes another player from my favorite movie It's a Wonderful Life-Gloria Grahame-who plays an army nurse from Frankie's New York State hometown, are passably witty especially Durante who's hilarious whenever he starts talking in a falsetto. Among the nice original songs written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne was one called "Time After Time" which was nicely song by Sinatra and Grayson in separate segments. Grayson also has a beautiful fantasy sequence from the opera "Lakme" and Lawford warbles an entertaining swing number in front of a bunch of teenagers. Sinatra and Grayson also share an Italian opera number. The highlight, however, was Durante and Sinatra's duet on "The Song's Gotta Come From the Heart" with The Voice during his Schnozzola impression at the end. While the movie seemed a little longish at 103 minutes, I quite enjoyed It Happened in Brooklyn and the way things ended up. P.S. The "Time After Time" song here is definitely not the same as the one later sung by Cyndi Lauper in the '80s!

Enjoyed this picture from the beginning to the very end with great old time musical numbers sung by Frank Sinatra, (Danny Webson Miller) who returns from the Army after four years of service to his hometown of Brooklyn, New York and meets up with some of his old friends. One of the friends is Jimmy Durante, (Nick Lombardi) who really stole the entire film in almost every scene. Kathryn Grayson, (Anne Fielding) had such a fantastic opera voice and sang some very famous Classical musical numbers. It was enjoyable seeing Peter Lawford, (Jamie Shellgrove) give a great song and dance number and also a blooming romance between him and Anne Fielding. Even Gloria Grahame, (Nurse) gave a great supporting role as a nurse taking care of Danny while he was in the service and how he sort of remembers her at the very end of the picture. Great film, don't miss this great Classic from 1947. Enjoy.

FRANK SINATRA's voice was in a warm and mellow tone when he did IT HAPPENED IN BROOKLYN and this little musical uses him musically in a nice way. He gets to warble an invigorating ditty as a serviceman joyous to be back in Brooklyn, so he belts out "Brooklyn Bridge" with baritone finesse. It almost sounds like a number out of ON THE TOWN. But it's his mellow rendering of "Time After Time" that brings back memories of how he crooned his way to stardom and became a teen idol in the early '40s.

Frank is a kind of shy guy here, but gets to loosen up after awhile thanks to the friendship of JIMMY DURANTE as a fellow Brooklynite, a janitor who lets Frank share his apartment until he can find a job. KATHRYN GRAYSON is the pretty girl Sinatra takes up with, both of them with singing aspirations. He even does a "Don Giovanni" duet with Grayson and it's not bad at all. Grayson does a nice solo spot on "The Bell Song" from Lakme and handles her acting chores in a pleasant enough manner. Likewise, even PETER LAWFORD gets to belt out a number for a bunch of record fans in a music store, loosening up to a little ditty called "Whose Baby Are You?" with a swing beat.

Durante and Sinatra have fun on a number called "The Song's Gotta Come from the Heart" and Sinatra is at his best crooning a ballad called "It's the Same Old Dream."

True, it's all rather formula as far as the storyline goes, but it's done in such an unpretentious way that it manages to charm most of the time. GLORIA GRAHAME has a small role at the beginning as a nurse from Brooklyn who doubts whether Sinatra hails from that borough.

I can't say much for the direction of Richard Thorpe. It moves at a snail's pace through its running time of one hour and forty-five minutes.

"It Happened In Brooklyn" is so good-natured and cloying you can't help but like it. It's about a soldier (Sinatra) just discharged from the army after WW II to find a girl friend and a life. He disembarkation point is England, and after making friends with Peter Lawford, off he goes, returning to Brooklyn. From here the plot is so contrived it is hard to recount due to the lack of believability, and the story can barely drag its carcass from one song to the next, so shameless are the screenwriters.

But the songs. They are exquisite, written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, and the main reason for my rating. Sinatra is in fine voice, and Jimmy Durante has been irreplaceable on America's stellar list of entertainers. "Time After Time', "It's the Same Old Dream" are two of Frank's better numbers, but the piece de resistance is Sinatra and Durante doing, " It's Gotta Come From The Heart". Priceless. There are a couple of opera numbers for Kathryn Grayson, so there is something for everyone in this picture.

It is a flag-waver and a preposterous tall tale, but it all works. All you have to do is wait for the musical numbers. And they are worth waiting for.

Most MGM musicals of the late 1940s were lavish, Technicolored extravaganzas, which is why this modest, low-keyed, filmed in glorious black-and-white effort has always been overlooked. A pity, because it's one of the most endearing, enduring musicals of all time. Firstly, it has a plot--a bittersweet Isobel Lennart screenplay about an ex-soldier (Frank Sinatra) returning from WWII to his beloved Brooklyn, and realizing it is not the same as he remembered it. Secondly, that dream cast working together in perfect dramatic and vocal harmony--Sinatra (never more likeable and sweet-natured); Kathryn Grayson (whose charming down-to-earth sincerity truly makes the screen glow); Peter Lawford (has anyone ever given this actor the credit for the class and gentlemanly warmth he brought to every film he was in?), and, of course, the immortal Jimmy Durante (bolstering all of his co-stars with his brilliant comedic and dramatic talents). And thirdly, an immortal Jule Styne score to die for. "Time After Time" ranks as one of the most poignant, melodic ballads ever composed. Many artistic greats have recorded it, but no one has ever interpreted it with the wistful perfection of Grayson and Sinatra. Add Sinatra's "The Brooklyn Bridge" and "It's the Same Old Dream". Lawford's delightful jive turn "Whose Baby Are You?" And the rousing Sinatra/Durante showstopper "The Song's Gotta Come from the Heart" (excerpted in "That's Entertainment II"). "It Happened in Brooklyn" is a wistful, rueful, enchanting musical the likes of which MGM (nor any other studio) ever made nor even attempted. A buried treasure occasionally unearthed by TCM! See it, tape it, and savor one of the most loving and lovely movie-musicals ever made!