jacobs-greenwood This is not a great movie, but if you like its cast of singing stars – Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson (without Technicolor), Peter Lawford and Jimmy Durante – you'll enjoy it anyway (and as a bonus there's Gloria Grahame!). It was directed by Richard Whorf and scripted by Isobel Lennart (one of the four Sinatra films that she wrote) from a story by John McGowan.Sinatra plays a Brooklyn born soldier that returns home to find that he hadn't changed as much as he'd thought he had. He believed himself to be more confident. But he's influenced by Durante, his old high school's janitor, who takes him under his wing and encourages a would-be romantic relationship with the music teacher come opera singer Grayson.Sinatra's character discovers that he's happy helping others with their dreams. Lawford plays a shy fellow that Sinatra had met in England (during which Grahame plays a nurse, also from Brooklyn) just before his discharge from the Army. He's sent to Brooklyn to satisfy his Duke (Aubrey Mather) grandfather, who'd hoped that Sinatra could give him confidence.Lawford and Grayson make a better match. Everyone is hitting on all cylinders when they help a young pianist (uncredited Billy Roy, whose compositions are performed off stage by 17 year old André Previn, also uncredited) that wants to earn a scholarship.

aciolino Viewed this again recently for the ump-teenth time, and found it more entertaining than ever. We are so bombarded by the "relevant," and, "realistic," in films and TV today that "mere" entertainment has been lost, a forgotten craft, almost to be held in contempt.Sadly the lessons of J.L. Sullivan have to be learned over and over again, and so, with "It Happened In Brooklyn," I was reminded of what made entertainment entertaining. Great songs, funny little bits, charming scenes and characters, and most of all, nothing serious. Except fun.Wonderfully tuneful the soundtrack provides a diverse score of popular and classical numbers all, perfectly appropriate to the action and, in the case of Sinatra and Grayson's rendering of Mozart, "La Ci Darem La Mano," a wonderful curiosity not to be missed! Sinatra's delivery of the duet is one way to successfully portray the character: a non-threatening seduction, beginning innocently with, "Give me your hand," or, as the Beatles would say years later, "I wanna hold your hand," and it works very well. Sinatra's easy manner, letting the melodies flow out of him as though he were speaking them, is charming. Grayson's voice is grating at times, but her presence is so sweet and delectable that we forgive it.There is also a delightful setting of a Bach Invention for Grayson and her music students, that is true to the original text and quite lovely. Grayson also has a chance to shine in the "Bell Aria," from Delibes, "Lakme." She impresses, though not overwhelmingly. For the part in this movie, it's perfect. And it's ENTERTAINING.The highlight musical number is Durante/Sinatra's, "The Song's Gotta Come From Da Heart!" -- a perfect vehicle for Durante's antics, which remain awfully funny. What a pro! The likes we have none of today.Sinatra's "Brooklyn Bridge," "love song," is another priceless moment, filmed on location ON the Brooklyn Bridge.Peter Lawford is appropriately stuffy and does not interfere with the fun.All in all it is not Sinatra's film, or Grayson's or Durante, who comes closest to "stealing" it. It is ours. For it is we who find ourselves pleased and satisfied by the light airiness of the joy of "movies." Bravo!

writers_reign During the forties it seemed that MGM in particular had something of an obsession about offering classical and popular music in one package so that Jose Iturbi was almost as at home on the lot as Arthur Freed. This is yet another example and re-teams Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson who had already blended their respective genres in Anchors Aweigh some three years earlier. Adding Durante to the mix does no harm at all in fact the only jarring note is Peter Lawford who could neither sing, dance or act but didn't let that stop him from masquerading as competent at all three. The plot is as light as Isobel Lennart could get away with and still sound half credible and is merely a hook on which to hang some tasty Jule Styne-Sammy Cahn numbers including the Kern-like ballad Time After Time. Apart from Step Lively, made at RKO, this is arguably Sinatra's best musical from the forties - and YES I KNOW On The Town was released in the same decade. Sue me.

Neil Doyle 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.