Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

mark.waltz OK, so this wasn't his first film; He appears in bit singing parts in a slew of films made prior to this, usually singing with a band or performing in a nightclub sequence. But here, he has his first acting role, even if his character is named Frank Sinatra. The character of Frankie here is as fictional as you can get, considering the revelations of his private life revealed decades later. In this film, he is the neighbor of wealthy Leon Errol who through bad investments has lost his fortune. Realizing that he is in danger of loosing his mansion, he enlists the pretty scullery maid (Michelle Morgan) to pose as his daughter. However a suspicious society matron (Errol's "Mexican Spitfire" spouse Elisabeth Risdon) questions Morgan's identity, wanting to see her own daughter married off to the European nobility (Victor Borge, of all people!). But with Errol's staff (which includes butler Jack Haley, social secretary Mary Wickes, chauffeur Dooley Wilson and maid Marcy McGuire) sticking up for Morgan, you know that the snobs are going to be disappointed when things don't turn out their way.Based upon a flop 1940 Broadway musical with songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, only one song from that show ended up in the movie. The new songs, however, by Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson are really good, one of them "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night" now a standard and nominated for an Oscar.The other songs actually have a Broadway feel to them, utilizing the ensemble cast to its fullest. McGuire, a perky teen, is a typical bobby-soxer, the type you'd probably see jumping outside the Paramount Theatre where Sinatra wooed thousands of like girls. She gets a great duet with Sinatra, "I Saw You First", representing all the fans all over the country. This film, however, is unpredictable, and does not end the way you think it would. In spite of the silly premise, it is for the most part a truly entertaining film, one where the ensemble all get moments to shine.

Terrell-4 For a movie that's just about awful, there are a number of good things which a little knowledge of history, a taste for archeology and the fast forward button can help you with. Higher and Higher tells the story of Mike and Millie, while also shoehorning in Frank. Cyrus Drake (Leon Errol), a rich old coot, has gone bankrupt. His staff, led by his valet, Mike (Jack Haley), get the brainstorm to marry off the beautiful and naïve scullery maid, Millie (Michele Morgan), to a rich man after they introduce her as Drake's daughter at the Butlers' Ball, the prestigious annual coming out affair for debs with rich daddies. Cyrus Drake's coffers will be refilled and the staff will get their back wages. But Millie secretly loves Mike. To get his attention she pretends to like very much the skinny, slightly goofy looking young man who lives across the court, a singer named Frank Sinatra. Be prepared. There's a happy ending, but not before an interminable story and a lot of dud jokes. Jack Haley, so full of insincere sincerity, a product of years on the vaudeville stage, makes a match with the beautiful Michele Morgan that is seriously unbelievable. The comedy mix-ups aren't so much tedious as just unfunny. Now on to the good stuff. Higher and Higher was based on a 1940 Rodgers and Hart Broadway flop. It had a terrible book but some wonderful R&H songs. As is Hollywood's way, when the studio bought the rights they dumped the songs and kept the book. However, with Sinatra making his first starring appearance, they were smart enough to hire Jimmy McHugh (music) and Harold Donaldson (lyrics) to write all new songs. (A bit from one R&H song is used, "Disgustingly Rich.") McHugh and Donaldson came up with some proficient but unremarkable comedy songs, but they hit home runs for the three Sinatra ballads..."I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night," "This Is a Lovely Way to Spend an Evening" and my favorite, The music stopped / But we were still dancing / Which goes to show / That music has charms The lights were low / So we went on dancing / I felt the glow of you in my arms The cast of Higher and Higher is almost worth renting the movie for. They are a group of some excellent comic actors and performers. They have little good material to work with, but if you're familiar with them you'll enjoy them. Among the rich coot's staff, we're talking Leon Errol, the coot; Mary Wickes, the social secretary; Mel Torme, only 18 and in his first movie, general helper; the wonderful Paul and Grace Hartman, who only have a couple of bits, butler and maid; Dooley Wilson, chauffeur; Marcy McGuire, maid; and Ivy Scott, cook. Victor Borge in his first American movie appears as Sir Victor Fitzroy Victor, a possible match for Millie. Perhaps he wrote his own stuff, but he has some brief but funny lines that already nail his successful stage persona. Frank Sinatra hasn't learned to do much acting yet, but he doesn't embarrass himself. He comes across as a nice young guy with none of the ring-a-ding-ding awfulness of his middle years. When he croons those three hits McHugh and Donaldson wrote for him, you almost hear the thonk plop flop of bobbie soxers fainting in the theater aisles. As for archeology, if you are inspired to track down the clever and memorable score Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote for the stage show, you'll need to dig. Since the score didn't have a big hit, unusual in an R&H musical, and the show flopped, the songs were largely forgotten. One, "It Never Entered My Mind," managed to find a life with saloon singers who knew quality. Two or three more would occasionally pop up here and there in albums. To hear the rest, you need to search out the CD Ben Bagley's Rodgers and Hart Revisited, Vol. 1. It features eight songs from the score. Ben Bagley's CD Rodgers and Hart Revisited, Vol. 3 has three more. The songs are clever and smart.And finally, it will be a good thing if you give Michele Morgan a second chance. She was a memorable star in France but never quite made it in the United States. However, one of her best American films is that surreal and vicious Cornell Woolrich noir, The Chase. It more than makes up for her appearance in Higher and Higher. She is superb in Carol Reed's and Graham Greene's The Fallen Idol.

ShazInCA 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.

Liz-66 After watching this movie for no other reason than I was sick from school and it was on television, I recommend it if only for the chance to see such a young Frank Sinatra in action. (Especially the great scene at the "Butler's Ball.") I thought the actress who played Millie, the main character, was rather annoying, but the rest of the cast is great, especially the different servants.