Higher and Higher

This is one of my all-time favorites. Great music and some funny bits. I laugh every time at Millie, the maid pretending to be a débutante, holding her dainty hankie while chatting, and mindlessly polishing furniture with it as she chats. I just never can get past her French accent never being a problem as they try to pass her off as the boss's daughter.

Seeing a teenage Mel Torme and the very young Frank Sinatra singing is such a treat. My mom saw Frank Sinatra at a theater about the same time this movie came out. She said they couldn't clear the "bobby-soxers" out between movies (in those days you didn't have to leave between showings). This movie shows you how attractive and appealing the young Frank was and allows you to appreciate his early talent as well. And Victor Borge gets in a bit of his routine in, which is a bonus.

This is a fun movie with a sweet, simple storyline. Very enjoyable.

As a lover of all kinds of music spanning many era's, I can safely say that Frank Sinatra is far and away my personal favourite and arguably the best male vocalist of all time.

When Higher and Higher was made back in 1944, Sinatra was still working on his craft. He had a typical 1940's Big Band voice, no different really from the likes of Ray Ebberly, Johnny Desmond or Dick Haymes but he was better in many ways. He had yet to develop his own distinctive sound which would become instantly recognisable and would eventually make him the singing sensation of the 20th century.

Yet in this largely forgettable romantic comedy, the tools are there and you are starting to see the true craftsman at work.

Sinatra played himself, which I thought was a mistake as the love stories would have worked better if he was in character and completely detached from his true self. At the time Frank was happily married to his first wife and was already the father of two, yet the script announces his engagement to the lovely Barbara Hale (of Perry Mason fame.) Obviously RKO thought very little of unimportant crimes such as bigamy.

Despite these flagrant liberties taken with Frank's personal life, the film is redeemed as he is given perfect chance to prove to us just why he was the most popular singer of the war years with powerful ballads like, 'I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night,' and, 'A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening.'

What was a double treat for me was that another one of my all time favourite singers also featured in the cast. Mel Torme was an excellent artist but, 'The Man with the Velvet Voice' was not really given much opportunity in this vehicle to show us what a great singer he really was.

However despite the great songs expertly executed by the man himself, and excellent performances by the entire cast, nothing seems to rescue this film from drab dullness.

I think it's main failing was a rather weak and transparent plot, but hell..... if it past a dreary hour or so and took your mind off the horrors and reality of the war, then it had done what it had set out to do.

This is not the best of films, but a cute, fluffy romantic musical comedy. The real treat is seeing Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, and Victor Borge as young men - 3 true legends.

This was the first RKO picture for Sinatra of a 3 film RKO deal. However, Louis B. Mayer was a fan of Sinatra's - his rendition of Ol' Man River moved him to tears. Mayer contacted RKO & bought out Sinatra's RKO contract in order to bring him to MGM.

When the household staff of a wealthy family find out that their employers have gone broke, they concoct a dubious scheme: have new maid Millie (Michele Morgan) pretend to be the daughter of the rich family long enough to wed a wealthy suitor and get her hands on his money, after which she'll pay the other servants handsomely. Butler Michael (Jack Haley) manages the scheme despite having feelings for Millie himself, while next door neighbor Frank Sinatra (Frank Sinatra) keeps popping over to hit on Millie, as well as sing a few tunes.

The story is minor, and the humor thin, but it was fun seeing so many later major stars in early roles. Mel Torme looks like he's about 13 years old, Barbara Hale is youthful yet still mature, and Victor Borge is a long way from the goofball that I used to see on PBS so often in the 70's and 80's. The real draw is Sinatra, of course, playing a version of himself. He sings several songs, but doesn't have much acting to do. He's very thin and looks like he's wearing a suit 3 sizes too big. One of his songs earned an Oscar nomination for Best Song ("I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night"), as did the film's score by C. Bakaleinikoff.

Back in 1944 movie critics weren't given special screenings in order to review soon to be released films, but had to wait for a movie's regular opening to write their reviews. According to the host of American Movie Classics, when "Higher and Higher" first opened, film critics were unable to review Frank Sinatra's performance because the screams of adulation from the overwhelmingly young female audience drowned out all sound.

The first time I ever saw/heard Frank Sinatra was in the late 1960s and I couldn't understand why the women of my mother's generation made such a fuss about Mr. Sinatra. But after seeing this sensual and romantic crooner in "Higher and Higher" I can easily grasp why thousands of young women slept in the streets in order to be the first on line to see the young and appealing Mr. Sinatra.