Best part of this 10-minute film is seeing a young, rail-thin Sinatra in the studio singing with a lush orchestra. And then he gets to show off some decent acting chops for a few minutes.
But holy smokes, this is Hollywood Smug trying to spread itself across America and congratulating itself on its inclusiveness. In fact, they gave themselves an Academy Award for this little artifact.
But Google the lyrics for The House I Live In Sinatra. Then Google The House I live In Robeson. The latter is remarkably well-written (by Jews later black-listed) and powerful (and sung by a black man also later black-listed). Whereas the Sinatra version has been bleached to a bland pointlessness, so anodyne and saccharine it should come with a diabetes warning. Apparently, the lyricist was outraged particularly by the deletion of the ''white and black" line.
This is America (and particularly Hollywood) at its most self-congratulatory, and most cowardly (note not a single black kid in the mob of boys, either).
