At the time they made this movie, Frank Sinatra and Doris Day were both on the cusp of filling out the iconic images they'd become in a few short years and show remarkable chemistry as (potentially...seemingly?) ill-fated lovers in a picture-postcard Connecticut town who get married and move to a tenement in Manhattan. It's too bad they didn't make another film together. YOUNG AT HEART (1954) is an oddball family drama, incredibly downbeat in parts, with an ending that's 180 degrees away from the one in FOUR DAUGHTERS (1938) which, like this film, was adapted from Fannie Hurst's novel, "Sister Act." (Sinatra plays the part John Garfield played in the earlier film.) Except for a beach scene, it was all shot entirely on Warner Bros. soundstages and backlots.
Sinatra and Day sing a lot but don't duet till the end. Sinatra sings more than Day and gets better songs, including some Gershwin and Cole Porter standards. Sinatra's solos are quintessential Sinatra. It's just him sitting at the piano, with his hat on, playing and singing to his heart's content, usually in a shabby club just before closing. Musically, it rarely gets better than this. I wish there'd been more of these numbers. The strange but colorful supporting cast includes Ethel Barrymore, Gig Young, Robert Keith (Brian's dad), Dorothy Malone, Lonny Chapman, and pre-Skipper Alan Hale Jr. These actors are all fine, but I would have preferred to see the two stars in something that wasn't cluttered with so many other people.
This was only the second film Sinatra made after his incredible Oscar-winning comeback in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953). (In the interim, he'd played a presidential assassin—part of a hit team working for a high-level conspiracy—in SUDDENLY, 1954.) Sinatra's still a notably skinny guy here and looks much younger than his 38 years. He plays a talented musician who doesn't believe he has a chance at success. He mopes a lot and browbeats himself and resents others' success and always has a cigarette dangling from his lips. Plus, he keeps his hat on in the house. Doris almost weds Gig Young but dumps him at the last minute for his much needier friend, Sinatra. She tries to change the grumpy Sinatra, to make him happier. Good luck. Why didn't these stars ever reteam? Especially late in life, guided by a master director at the top of his game. What a film that would have made.
YOUNG AT HEART's director, Gordon Douglas, went on to direct Sinatra in four films in the 1960s, including two of the star's best, ROBIN AND THE SEVEN HOODS (1964) and THE DETECTIVE (1968).
Sinatra and Day sing a lot but don't duet till the end. Sinatra sings more than Day and gets better songs, including some Gershwin and Cole Porter standards. Sinatra's solos are quintessential Sinatra. It's just him sitting at the piano, with his hat on, playing and singing to his heart's content, usually in a shabby club just before closing. Musically, it rarely gets better than this. I wish there'd been more of these numbers. The strange but colorful supporting cast includes Ethel Barrymore, Gig Young, Robert Keith (Brian's dad), Dorothy Malone, Lonny Chapman, and pre-Skipper Alan Hale Jr. These actors are all fine, but I would have preferred to see the two stars in something that wasn't cluttered with so many other people.
This was only the second film Sinatra made after his incredible Oscar-winning comeback in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953). (In the interim, he'd played a presidential assassin—part of a hit team working for a high-level conspiracy—in SUDDENLY, 1954.) Sinatra's still a notably skinny guy here and looks much younger than his 38 years. He plays a talented musician who doesn't believe he has a chance at success. He mopes a lot and browbeats himself and resents others' success and always has a cigarette dangling from his lips. Plus, he keeps his hat on in the house. Doris almost weds Gig Young but dumps him at the last minute for his much needier friend, Sinatra. She tries to change the grumpy Sinatra, to make him happier. Good luck. Why didn't these stars ever reteam? Especially late in life, guided by a master director at the top of his game. What a film that would have made.
YOUNG AT HEART's director, Gordon Douglas, went on to direct Sinatra in four films in the 1960s, including two of the star's best, ROBIN AND THE SEVEN HOODS (1964) and THE DETECTIVE (1968).