Sinatra In Palm Springs - Blu-ray Review

Movie
Frank Sinatra. Of all the classic singers in the world, there are very few as famous as the king of crooners himself. Sinatra was a master of the vocal chords, a massive film store for decades, and a king of parties as well. As a kid I grew up with parents who were almost 40 when I was bored, so needless to say I grew up with much earlier music than your average kid growing up in the early 80s. Frank Sinatra, Sammie Davis Jr., Dean Martin and many more were a staple in my household, and I grew up watching classic 1940s and 1950s cinema as well. Much of which involved Sinatra. I still remember my mother saying “Sinatra is one of the best singers alive, but he’s kind of like John Wayne. He plays himself in every movie”. At that point in time I was absolutely in love with Guys & Dolls (I actually played in the play during High School), and was almost indignant that my mother would say that, but looking back I have to chuckle and agree with her. However, much like John Wayne he was an American Icon in movies and song, and much of that was due to his incredible charisma.

Sinatra in Palm Springs is a Frank Sinatra fanatics biggest dream come true. It’s a documentary focused on Frank and his relationship with one of the larger than life getaway cities in the nation. His home, his escape from Hollywood, Palm Springs. Right off the bat I can tell you that this isn’t your typical documentary. Leo Zahn isn’t making a “paint by the numbers” documentary about Frank’s life, but rather Zahn has gone over hundreds of videos, interviews and various movie clips, all relating to Frank’s love of Palm Springs. The film is almost a wandering, meandering trip down memory lane, letting us view Palm Springs as Frank did. There are TONS of clips of his earlier movies regarding the place, as well as several interviews with people like his still living wife Barbara Sinatra, folk singer Trini Lopez, Don Rickles clips on Johnny Carson, Jimmy Kimmel, and many more.

I almost feel bad at how short this review is, but part of it is because Sinatra in Palm Springs is not a film you really go into great detail about. The documentary is very loose and flowing, just allowing the viewer to get absorbed in the little anecdotes and stories throughout the interviews as the people that knew him regaled the interviewer with their experiences and interactions with Frank. It’s almost like watching a train of thought movie, in a way. The downside of the entire thing is that it doesn’t appeal to casual people as much, and really is more of a Frank Sinatra fan’s movie. I’m not saying that you won’t get anything out of it as a casual fan, but as this isn’t a regular documentary about Franks life, those who have a more intimate knowledge of the man will get a little bit more out of the film and can focus on his love for the man’s “home away from home”.






Rating:

Not Rated By the MPAA




Video:

As is the case with most documentaries comprised of interviews collected over the course of many years, the picture quality will vary depending on the source quality of the interview at hand. Some of them are worn and faded from years gone by, while others are sharp and crisp due to being digitally shot in the modern day. It’s a grab bag of picture quality ratios and while some look better than others, the majority of the interviews look really nice. There’s no real banding or compression artifacts on Shout’s disc, and the short 92 minute film seems to have been given a solid bitrate to breathe with as well. Simply put, this is a typical interview style documentary with sit down locations and office backdrops for the most part, and looks the part.









Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA and the 2.0 DTS-HD MA tracks that Shout Factory has given us for the interview sound fairly similar in nature. This is naturally due to the limited sound stage of the interviews, and while there is some background and surround channel implementation in the 5.1 track, this is a fairly front heavy mix that focuses on dealing with the dialog of the subjects. The musical fidelity is really the push for the surround and LFE presence, and the dialog itself is comfortable being straight up in the front of the room and fairly precise. There is a few times where vocals get faded or crackly with the older interviews, but its rarely an issue and the track itself is quite nice overall.







Extras:

• Original theatrical trailer
• Deleted Scenes












Sinatra In Palm Springs is a focused documentary aimed squarely at super fans of the famous singer. It’s not a broad band documentary about his life, but rather a look back at one of his most infamous hiding spots where the guarded and private singer would go to in order to rest, and director Leo Zahn tries to recreate and piece together information from many an interview, picture, and little bits of film in order to create a tapestry of how one of the world’s most famous crooners lived. Shout Factory’s Blu-ray looks and sounds as good as it can for a simple documentary like this, and even includes a TON of deleted scenes to add to the special features list. Worth a watch for Sinatra fans.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Barbara Marx, Tom Dreesen, David Cohen, Trini Lopez
Directed by: Leo Zahn
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: NR
Runtime: 92 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: June 11th, 2019

it's a fun documentary Sonnie. as I said, it's nothing wild in terms of a broad spectrum "cover the whole life" documentary, but I liked it.

Sonnie Parker said:

I meant to mention that I finally got around to watching this. It was several months ago, but wow... this is very enlightening about his lifestyle.

Click to expand...

yeah, it was a solid doc... I had forgotte about it till you mentioned it again lol. a nice introspective look