Young At Heart

Released by: Olive Films
Released on: April 8th, 2014.
Director: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Gig Young, Ethel Barrymore, Dorothy Malone
Year: 1954
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The Movie:

When Young at Heart begins, we hear an instrumental version of the titular Frank Sinatra hit playing over an endearingly artificial studio set that depicts an iconic suburban landscape (tree-lined sidewalks, white picket fences) that so defined the self-mythologizing America of the 1950s. It's the kind of evocation of “Small-Town USA” that Douglas Sirk so subtly deconstructed in All that Heaven Allows, and while this musical is not nearly so incisive or interesting, its occasional forays into a melancholy sensibility may surprise viewers expecting a more straightforward affair.

The film concerns the romantic travails of the three daughters of the music-loving Gregory Tuttle (Robert Keith); these are Fran (Dorothy Malone), Amy (Elisabeth Fraser) and Laurie (Doris Day). Rounding out the family is Gregory's elderly sister Jessie (Ethel Barrymore, in one of her last roles). The film begins with Fran excitedly announcing her engagement with successful businessman Bob (Alan Hale, Jr., who viewers will undoubtedly recognize as the Skipper from Gilligan's Island). Although they are both happy for her, Fran's news leaves Amy and Laurie wondering when they will meet their own husbands. Amy suggests that if they are left single much longer, they should both agree to live together in spinsterhood.

Enter Alex Burke (Gig Young), an attractive hot-shot composer who has not only been commissioned to write the music for a Broadway show but can also deliver an entire litter of puppies with ease. This charming “Mr. Right” has all three daughters infatuated with him but he sets his sights on Laurie. There is some tense foreshadowing generated by the fact that Fran has just been engaged, but is seemingly not very interested in her new fiance. In addition to this, Amy is completely oblivious to Ernie (Lonny Chapman), a plumber who is obviously infatuated with her.

It is at this point that we are introduced to the moody Barney Sloan (Frank Sinatra), a fellow-musician who Alex invites to help him polish up his compositions for his show. Barney has had a string of bad breaks; he's burned so many bridges that even if he were to write a hit song “they” wouldn't let it be a success. Laurie is immediately impressed by Barney's talent at rearranging and sees something behind his depressive demeanor.

Young at Heart was directed by Gordon Douglas, who had a prolific and varied career in many genres (in the same year as this film he directed the giant ant classic Them!). He brings a professional workmanlike approach to this material, aided in no small part by his Director of Photography Ted McCord (Treasure of the Sierra Madre and East of Eden are among some of his stunning credits). The film is actually a remake of an earlier musical called Four Daughters (from 1938) and the filmmakers obviously wanted to recapture the previous film's success by telling the same story with Sinatra and Day in the leads.

Young at Heart's soundtrack contains many previous standards, such as Cole Porter's “Just One of Those Things” and George Gershwin's “Someone to Watch Over Me;” both of those musical numbers are memorably integrated into the film (the convenience of having a cast of musically-inclined characters allows for strictly diegetic singing throughout). What may surprise initial viewers is the comparable lack of importance of Sinatra's titular smash-hit. In fact, when the film was in production it did not have a title, and thus its subsequent success inspired the producers to name their film after it (the song plays, in truncated form, at the end credits). The lyrics do not have very much of anything to do with the narrative.

Douglas's film is a fairly diverting love story with good musical numbers. The main distinguishing factor is the somewhat inconsistent tone; whereas a lot of the Young at Heart's second-half action hinges on melodramatic plot contrivances, there are stretches (mostly centered on Sinatra's character) that are convincingly dark. With Barney Sloan, Sinatra masterfully creates a brooding personality whose self-effacing wit and world-weary stare serve to puncture the cheerful suburbia that he finds himself occupying.

Video/Audio/Extras:

The blu-ray of Young at Heart is presented by Olive Films in a fairly good 1080p transfer in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio. The image on the whole does not offer superb detail (this may be on account of the dated elements) but there is very little damage to report aside from inconsequential imperfections throughout. A solid image presentation.

The only audio option is a lossless DTS-HD Mono track. It sounds very good, with no hissing or major imperfections. The musical sequences are not expertly integrated into the soundtrack, and so the transition between them and the surrounding action may be a bit jarring at times. Blame the filmmakers on that one.

There are no extras.

The Final World:

Young at Heart may never be considered a top-shelf musical but it has some appeal to fans of the genre and its two main stars. The film's melancholic stretches serve to elevate the material above its occasional melodramatic excesses. Olive give the film a solid, if unremarkable, presentation. A mild recommendation.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!