The Plot:
Consisting of five films, the MGM Movie Legends Collection pretty much pulls from the middle of Sinatra's four decade oeuvre. Among the relics unearthed are a pair of unheralded mediocrities (The Pride and the Passion and Kings Go Forth) and three noteworthy examples of his range and radiance. The plots for each movie are as follows:

Guys and Dolls (1955) Score: *** out of *****
When small time hood Nathan Detroit learns that high roller Sky Masterson is in town, he comes up with a plan to con the criminal out of some dough. Wagering that he can't take the local Salvation Army worker Sarah Brown on a date - to Havana, Cuba, Detroit bets Masterson $1000. Ms. Brown, on the other hand, will only go if Sky will promise 100 souls to save. In the meantime, Detroit is being driven crazy by his showgirl fiancé Adelaide. She wants to get married, and he's got the iciest of cold feet.

The Pride and the Passion (1957) Score: ** out of *****
During the war with Napoleon, a group of Spanish rebels, lead by the noble if uneducated Miguel, decide to move a massive canon across the countryside. Their hope is to deliver it to British troops fighting the French, hopefully turning the tide of the conflict. Helping is English officer Capt. Anthony Trumbell, and it's not long before the suave, refined gentlemen is making eyes at Miguel's mistress, Juana. All three end up in a battle of their own, one that has no place in these precarious times.

Kings Go Forth (1958) Score: ** out of *****
It's 1944, and Allied troops are combing the French countryside for hidden bands of Nazis. Young Lt. Sam Loggins has fallen for the lovely Monique Blair. Unfortunately, she holds an unusual secret destined to keep them apart. Enter new recruit Corporal Britt Harris. Brash, spoiled, and incapable of a commitment, the jaded jetsetter soon comes between the pair. Eventually, the new couple is engaged to be married. It is up to Sam to reveal Monique's cultural skeleton in the closet, if only to keep her from getting hurt.

Hole in the Head (1959) Score: *** out of *****
Widower Tony Manetta is a wonderful father. His son Alvin loves him very much. Too bad the hotel owner can't have the same success in business. His establishment is going under, and there's not much he can do about it. Enter big brother Mario and his wife Eloise. The sibling will agree to refinance the Miami Beach resort if Tony will stop his wild, womanizing ways. Agreeing to the terms (though really just playing along) it looks like the end for the entrepreneur. But when an old buddy shows up with another offer, it appears Tony may make it after all.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Score: ***** out of *****
When Korean War POW Raymond Shaw returns to America as a decorated hero, his fellow company members are confused. Especially C.O, Ben Marco. The former officer has been having horrible nightmares, and he senses something is wrong with the Shaw story. As he begins investigating the situation, the truth slowly begins to reveal itself. The vet's manipulative mother, Mrs. Iselin, is plotting with enemy forces to turn her son into a political assassin - and this grand conspiracy's target may be closer to home than anyone realizes. It is up to Marco to put a stop to the cabal.

The DVD:
Instead of providing an in-depth review of Sinatra's career, or trying to create an overall theme to this collection, it is simpler to explore each movie individually, arguing its pros and cons in an effort to provide a singular opinion and sway a potential purchase. Viewed one at a time, we get a good idea of what's worth your cash, and what should have stayed in the trash. We begin with a real winner:

Guys and Dolls
Mocked by many today as a decided misstep in Sinatra's otherwise solid big screen musical oeuvre, Guys and Dolls remains a fascinating cinematic spectacle. While critics love to point at the purposeful miscasting of the singer as Nathan Detroit (especially in light of who ended up playing Sky Masterson - Marlon Brando?), all other aspects of the movie remain stellar. The acting is superb, with Sinatra and his famous Method costar adding the necessary Brooklyn brogue to their streetwise characters, while Jean Simmons turn as Sarah Brown more than makes up for her slightness of voice. Original Broadway cast members Vivian Blaine (as lovesick Adelaide) and Stubby Kaye (as Detroit sidekick Nicely Nicely Johnson) steal every scene they're in, and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz makes his stylized New York backdrop literally throb with author Damon Runyon's metropolitan pulse. Yet the most remarkable element of Guys and Dolls remains Frank Loesser masterpiece of a musical score. His songs are stellar, delivering both emotional and entertainment particulars with pizzazz and jewel-like polish. While fans can always wonder "what if" regarding Sinatra and Masterson - or better yet, pick up a copy of The Reprise Musical Repetoire Theater's 1964 version of the show, featuring his turn as the character, along with Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr. - this remains an accomplished, astounding effort.

The Pride and the Passion
Here's an odd juxtaposition - the thoroughly modern crooner stationed inside a crackpot, campy period piece. While it's clear that director Stanley Kramer couldn't have cared less who was cast in this Napoleonic nonsense, certainly a studio could see how ill suited Sinatra, Cary Grant, and Sophia Loren were for this material. Highly stylized and draped in overdone symbolism, Pride and the Passion sees all three actors struggling to make sense of the story and their place within it. Frank is required to put on a bad Spanish accent as an illiterate rebel, while Loren is here for lung power, only. Grant has the worst time of it though. Never one for magnified machismo, he is out of his natural debonair stance as a static firebrand man of action. In essence, this is the kind of ersatz-epic that you either buy into completely (thanks in part to the A-list star power) or laugh at almost involuntarily. No one can deny Kramer's efforts outside the exposition - this is a beautiful looking movie with sweeping vistas and lovely landscapes. But in order to put up with two plus hours of 19th century intrigue, we have to identify and empathize with the characters. All we wind up with are a group of attractive celebrities looking uncomfortable. This is a movie for Grant/Sinatra completists only.

Kings Go Forth
As he would throughout his career in front of the camera, Sinatra enjoyed returning to the military motion picture as a source of cinematic spark. After all, his greatest achievement was in a war movie - albeit, viewed from the situation at home - and the implied heroics therein. Yet very little of that element is in Kings. Indeed, another facet of the singer's later creative decisions seems to have guided his appearance in this otherwise predictable drama. Sinatra saw himself as progressive on several social ideas, and gravitated toward this kind of project because of its interracial element. Yet Hollywood's outrageous stance against any actual authenticity (read: casting an actress of color) found a far too young Natalie Wood trying to pass for black (huh?). Even more confounding, the cultural chasm was used in service of a stupefying simplistic love triangle. Sinatra may indeed be very good at essaying the third wheel, but the rest of the cast (including a downright goofy Tony Curtis) are too erratic to be effective. Though many have praised its theme of perseverance and found the overall tone more realistic than ridiculous, this is still a prime example of Tinsel Town's inability to tackle the big picture issues. Sadly, it seems like nothing much has changed in the last half century.

Hole in the Head
Though you wouldn't know it from looking at his canon, Sinatra excelled at comedy, especially when the target was his own exaggerated persona. Here, in one of noted director Frank Capra's last films, Ol' Blue Eyes is a loveable rogue who seems born under a consistently sprinkling dark cloud. He cares deeply for his son, and it is the moments between the singer and his onscreen offspring Eddie Hodges that work the best. Equally compelling is good old Edward G. Robinson as Sinatra's sensible brother. He comes close to overwhelming every sequence he's in. Though the inclusion of songs seems antithetical to the movie's more melodramatic aspects ("High Hopes" and "All My Tomorrows" are featured), this is still a winning combination of heart and humor. Some may think the overall tone a tad stilted, especially when dealing with Sinatra's obvious womanizing (which includes a fetching Carolyn Jones) and 'poor but proud' approach to the finale. Still, old Miami is a hoot, especially when you consider that hotels like The Cordoza used to be a dime a dozen on the battered beachhead. Now, under the current celebrity status of the region, they're nothing but a memory. Capra can be accused of being overly sentimental, and this does not stand as one of his certified cinematic classics, but A Hole in the Head does deliver a fantastic Frank and an engaging Edward G.

The Manchurian Candidate
Prior to its rediscovery in the mid '80s, Candidate was a forgotten masterwork marred by some incredibly inopportune happenstance. Released the year before President Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas, the political assassination element was seen as too volatile for star/producer Sinatra, and as a personal gesture to the grieving family, he made sure the movie conveniently and quietly faded into obscurity. One has to remember that the singer was very close with the Camelot clan, campaigning heavily for the candidate in 1960. While undoubtedly a sweet and certainly noble move, it nonetheless deprived generations of this excellent political thriller. It's hard to review a film that so many have mulled over in the past two decades, but it's clear that Candidate was way ahead of its time. The notion of brainwashing may have been nothing new, but the climate of corruption and universal conspiracy was unmatched for the era. Similarly, director John Frankenheimer choreographed his narrative brilliantly. There is not an expositional misstep, not a single second when we disbelieve the events playing out before us. The acting is exceptional, Sinatra more than proving his mantle. But he is matched by a brilliant Laurence Harvey and an incandescent Angela Landsbury. Rightfully considered a masterpiece, this is the one must own movie in the entire set.

The Video:
Since all five films have previously been released on DVD, it's clear that Sony has simply repackaged previous digital transfers into sensible slimcases for this release. Some websites have stated that the prints have been remastered, but that does not seem to be the case (especially since these places also mention the movies are in their "original 1.33:1 aspect ratios" - huh?). Of course, such a conclusion could come from the fact that all but one of these images are NON ANAMOPHIC. That's right, its widescreen letterboxing for three of the five films (Kings is in full screen), with Pride's 1.66:1, and Hole/Doll's 2.35:1 all lacking a 16x9 element. Only The Manchurian Candidate boasts the actual preservation of the film's original 1.76:1 aspect ratio. This is unconscionable, especially in an era where the standard is slowly shifting over to the rectangular dimension. The correctness of color and attention to detail become insignificant when you're staring at black bars across the top and bottom of your home theater screen.

The Audio:
From a sonic standpoint, it's a mostly Mono affair. The single channel Dolby Digital dynamic appears on Hole, Pride and Kings. Only Dolls and Candidate have a newly remastered 5.1 mix. Both sound excellent as a result. As for the old fashioned aural approach, it's not bad. The dialogue is always discernible, and the underscoring solid. Still, there is a flatness to the audio that is noticeable, even when the overdone orchestrations take over.

The Extras:
First up, one must discount four of the titles here when discussing added content. This version of Dolls is an old bare bones release, not the newer special edition, while Kings, Hole, and Pride are also digitally desolate. Only The Manchurian Candidate has any kind of bonus features, and some of those have been ported over from previous editions. DVD Savant does a great job of discussing the extras included in his review, located here. From this critic's perspective, the supplements are a mixed bag. Frankenheimer gives great commentary, but the interview (which includes Sinatra, and producer/writer George Alexrod), along with featurettes focusing on Angela Landsbury and William Friedkin (?) are nominal at best. There is lots of detail to be found, but you have to work around some very EPK-oriented material. Until a company like Criterion comes along and tricks out this title, we will have to be happy with this decent, if slightly derivative, release.

Final Thoughts:
The problem that arises when judging any multidisc set typically rests on the quality of the films compared to the versions they are presented in. Had Sony simply remastered every DVD into the mandatory anamorphic format, had they provided as much added content as they did for Candidate, had the sound been boosted for all five films, we'd have something pretty close to authoritative. Indeed, even with the scattershot quality of the films, context can conquer all. But the MGM Movie Legends Collection is wildly uneven, both technically and artistically. The Manchurian Candidate and Guys and Dolls earn Highly Recommended ratings, while A Hole in the Head falls a single step lower. The Pride and the Passion and Kings Go Forth clearly remain in the realm of the rental. If one was functioning via a mathematical average, we'd be looking at a Recommended rank. But the lack of significant complementary bang for the buck is still troubling. However, the former score will stand, with a strict caveat for those looking to expand their Sinatra collection. Remember, there is a stand alone DVD release of this Candidate special edition. There's a much better Guys and Dolls available as well. So unless you have to own the other three films, this could be a case of too much filler surrounding two healthy samplings of Sinatra's otherwise marginalized onscreen excellence. His legacy definitely deserves better.

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