I hadn't seen this movie for decades. But it was remembered (pretty vaguely) with affection. However, I recently purchased the DVD, and whilst even a large-screen television doesn't really do justice to some of the more expansive older movies, I confess to being a tad disappointed even so.
The songs were great, pretty much as I remembered them. Frank Sinatra was on top-drawer sparkling form. Hayworth and Novak were all you could expect from the so-called screen-goddesses of the 1950's. Yet something was missing. There were shortfalls in between songs, during story development, that seemed to cause the whole plot to languish briefly. I confess to finding myself bored. It didn't happen very often. But it happened. Maybe the director imagined that the three leads, and the great songs would be enough to carry the production and so it wasn't necessary to try too hard with anything else. I don't really know.
'Pal Joey' isn't remembered half so well as some other 1950's musicals. And perhaps there's a reason for that. I suspect it needed a couple more songs - good songs - and maybe a bit more excitement to the story-line. Fans of 'ol blue eyes will still be enchanted, but without him and the songs this would have been a complete non-event.
The songs were great, pretty much as I remembered them. Frank Sinatra was on top-drawer sparkling form. Hayworth and Novak were all you could expect from the so-called screen-goddesses of the 1950's. Yet something was missing. There were shortfalls in between songs, during story development, that seemed to cause the whole plot to languish briefly. I confess to finding myself bored. It didn't happen very often. But it happened. Maybe the director imagined that the three leads, and the great songs would be enough to carry the production and so it wasn't necessary to try too hard with anything else. I don't really know.
'Pal Joey' isn't remembered half so well as some other 1950's musicals. And perhaps there's a reason for that. I suspect it needed a couple more songs - good songs - and maybe a bit more excitement to the story-line. Fans of 'ol blue eyes will still be enchanted, but without him and the songs this would have been a complete non-event.