Tout le monde chante

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!

-Shy singer Danny Miller (Frank Sinatra) musters out of the army and returns home to Brooklyn. He ends up rooming with school janitor Nick (Jimmy Durante), while romancing music teacher Anne (Kathryn Grayson). A love triangle forms when Danny's acquaintance Jamie (Peter Lawford) comes over from England in order to try his hand in the music business.

There's a lot of music, and fans of early Sinatra will find much to enjoy. He attempts a semi-operatic duet with Grayson which was ill-advised. Grayson naturally gets a showcase operatic number late in the film during which the momentum screeches to a halt. Durante is amusing, and gets a couple of duets with Frank. Gloria Grahame makes the most of her small role as an army nurse at the film's start.

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.

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.

It occurs in the cafe scene in "It Happened in Brooklyn." Sinatra joins Katherine Grayson in the famed duet, "La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's "Don Giovanni." What a novelty--and the two don't do too badly together, though the presentation is somewhat in a buffo style.

It points up the fact that Sinatra was born to be a singer; indeed, if he'd been endowned with an operatic vocal instrument, he probably would have been an opera singer. In fact, when he was coming out of his Palm Springs "retirement" to return to the stage, he reportedly got Met Opera baritone Robert Merrill to coach him. And in his latter days, became quite of fan and friend of Pavarotti and the "other two tenors." He also recorded Brahm's "Lullaby," (which he featured in "Anchors Aweigh") and an impressive "Soliloquy" from "Carosel."

There's just no doubt about it: the man loved to sing. In his second major musical for MGM, "It Happened in Brooklyn" Sinatra solos in some marvelous songs by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn, including "Time After Time," "It's the Same Old Dream," and "The Brooklyn Bridge," while Grayson reprises the first and is featured in the complete "Bell Song" from Delibes' opera, "Lakme." Grayson is also featured in an novel arrangement based on Bach's "Two-Part Invention in F Major," featuring a children's choir and strings. Other delights are "I Believe" and "It's Gotta Come from the Heart," in which the "Ol' Snazolla," Jimmy Durante, joins Frankie for a comic romp.

With all these tunful treats, plus fine support from Peter Lawford and Gloria Graham, one would think this musical were a blockbuster. Not really so, surprisingly. It seems to be a case of the parts not quite equalling the whole. However, it's still a personal favorite, as these musical selections are just plain fun to hear and enjoy. So "It Happened in Brooklyn" is a staple in my video collection, which I replay with great pleasure and downright good fun.