{"id":13164,"date":"2016-02-19T14:53:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-19T19:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=13164"},"modified":"2016-02-19T15:12:07","modified_gmt":"2016-02-19T20:12:07","slug":"dvd-some-came-running-1958","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=13164","title":{"rendered":"DVD: Some Came Running (1958)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SomeCameRunning\"Film<\/strong>:\u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Very Good<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Good<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Warner Home Video<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a01 (NTSC)<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0May 13, 2008<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Melodrama \/ WWII<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0Based on James Jones’ novel, a black sheep returns home after WWII and stirs up trouble in his hated home town.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Featurette: \u201cThe Story of Some Came Running\u201d (20:35) \/ Theatrical Trailer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Having (literally) struck Oscar gold with James Jones\u2019 novel From Here to Eternity <\/strong>(1953), Frank Sinatra gambled on the author\u2019s Some Came Running<\/strong>, the second of two WWII-themed dramas the actor starred in 1958.<\/p>\n

Whereas the prior film, Kings Go Forth<\/strong>, dealt with a Lieutenant stationed in the French Riviera near the end of the war, Running<\/strong> has former golden boy writer \/ G.I. Dave Hirsh returning (by drunken accident) to his hated home town, and using cash from a lucky gambling streak, he proceeds to essentially piss off his remaining family \u2013 brother Frank (Arthur Kennedy) – because he was shipped off to a boarding school after the family\u2019s patron and saint died.<\/p>\n

Frank married money via the town jeweler\u2019s daughter Agnes (Leora Dana, who also appeared in Kings<\/strong>), whereas Dave relies on his gift with cards, and soon hooks up with the town\u2019s resident drunk and itinerant gambler Bama Dillert (Sinatra\u2019s bosom pal Dean Martin, in the first of their many cinematic pairings). Frank tries to re-introduce his younger brother to the town\u2019s upper-crust society (and minimize family embarrassment) via the French family, and Dave soon falls for pretty Gwen (Cry Vengeance<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Martha Hyer), a literature teacher at the local college who has genuine admiration for Dave\u2019s previously published novels.<\/p>\n

Eventually the self-loathing writer entrusts his rumpled, trashed work-in-progress to Gwen, and friendship turns into a kind of affair, where Dave just won\u2019t stop hounding and pushing into Grwen\u2019s personal space bubble until there\u2019s both a kiss and a classic cinematic fadeout to signal their one-time union.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s around here where the film starts to get a bit weird, moving from a wry, often mean little comedy-melodrama into full-blown melodrama with an improbable romance that in its filmic incarnation just doesn\u2019t work. Dave loves Gwen and has stopped drinking and seeing a floozy \u2013 Ginnie (a ballsy Shirley MacLaine) – with whom he traveled to town from Chicago, but Gwen just shoos him away time and time again. On the phone, she professes devotion, but in person she rejects Dave with zero leeway, causing him to bounce back to the floozy and entertain a formal union.<\/p>\n

When the End Credits fade up, Jones\u2019 story lacks a classic resolution, but the film certainly fits into the wad of fifties melodramas where small towns are seething with bad social behaviour and secrets (Peyton Place<\/a><\/strong>), and tragedy is the pivotal shock that turns a juvenile mind into a maturing adult in the end scene.<\/p>\n

The dialogue by John Patrick (Three Coins in the Fountain<\/a><\/strong>, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing<\/a><\/strong>, High Society<\/a><\/strong>) and Arthur Sheekman (Wonder Man<\/strong>) really crackles, giving everyone several choice scenes where their characters stand out and show either some acting chops \u2013 Sinatra, Martin, and MacLaine are superb \u2013 or give bit players some rare memorable characters, like Nancy Gates (This Land is Mine<\/a><\/strong>, and Suddenly<\/strong> with Sinatra) as Frank\u2019s zaftig twentysomething nighttime pastry dish, and unbilled Carmen Phillips (Marnie<\/strong>) as Bama\u2019s sometimes catatonic girlfriend. Marion Ross (TV\u2019s Happy Days<\/strong>) also makes an unbilled appearance as a nurse.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the film\u2019s main player, besides Sinatra, is director Vincent Minnelli, who applied stylized visuals to certain scenes using brilliant lighting schemes by cinematographer William Daniels. Some moments are quite daring (Dave and Gwen\u2019s kiss happens in sudden silhouette); others are lit with a sleek commercial high contrast look reminiscent of a slick magazine ad (Frank moping by the phone, and Gwen\u2019s kitchen and living room); but the most striking (and confounding for period critics) is the chase sequence through an amusement park where Minnelli has some shots resembling single colour, saturated moments from a MGM musicall; and choreographs all manner of objects being flopped in place \/ pulled across the screen \/ or globs of pastel lights spinning artfully in the background, like the revolving chairs.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt Minnelli managed to extract what many regard as Sinatra\u2019s best performance (the actor-singer regarded the film with deep affection), but not unlike the director\u2019s poke at Hollywood melodrama in the film-about-filmmaking, The Bad and the Beautiful <\/strong>(1952), this is either a subversive reworking of the classic fifties melodrama into something much darker and unforgiving, or a brand of maudlin melodrama that becomes a little high-pitched in its denouement.<\/p>\n

Where Elmer Bernstein was tasked with scoring Kings<\/strong> like a classic war drama, his approach in Running<\/strong> is occasionally bizarre, as though Minnelli wanted to deepen the atmosphere with lush thematic statements that don\u2019t even correspond to direct screen action; some cues play almost in complete contrast, as though imposed by the director, while others are more traditional. There\u2019s a strangeness to the score that seems to inform the audience with full vigor of what\u2019s normally treated as subtext, and while Bernstein\u2019s music isn\u2019t inappropriate, it adds to the film\u2019s off-kilter atmosphere, such as the bombastic Main Title music, and a few scenes where Dave visits the French household.<\/p>\n

Like certain actors, Sinatra would seemingly call upon specific technicians again, like Daniels, to lens Never So Few<\/strong> (1959), Ocean\u2019s Eleven<\/strong> (1960), Come Blow Your Horn<\/a><\/strong> (1963) and many others in the sixties, although this would be Sinatra\u2019s second and final association with Jones\u2019 work. The novel The Thin Red Line<\/strong> was filmed in 1964 and 1998, and From Here to Eternity<\/strong> was expanded into an 11 episode mini-series in 1980.<\/p>\n

Warner Home Video\u2019s DVD sports a decent transfer of the film, but this is definitely a work screaming for a full restoration, if not because of Minnelli and Daniel\u2019s use of colour and unique lighting. The bonus featurette does a nice job covering the film\u2019s production history, including the actors, the director, on-set conflicts, Sinatra and Martin evading fans, and the splendid locations, but there\u2019s a heavy reliance on After Effects transitions that dates the editing and becomes overbearing. Still, there\u2019s many interviews which contextualize both Sinatra\u2019s film career, the Rat Pack that came into its own two years later in Oceans Eleven<\/strong>, and a line Dean Martin utters in the pair\u2019s first scene (\u201cAin\u2019t that a kick in the head!\u201d) which became a cheeky song<\/a> in that classic caper film.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sinatra\u2019s war films include From Here to Eternity<\/strong> (1954), Kings Go Forth<\/strong> (1958), Some Came Running<\/strong> (1958), Never So Few<\/strong> (1959), The Manchurian Candidate<\/strong> (1962), Von Ryan\u2019s Express<\/strong> (1965), and None But the Brave<\/strong> (1965), which he also directed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2016 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a>\u00a0— Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Film:\u00a0Excellent Transfer: \u00a0Very Good Extras: Good Label:\u00a0\u00a0Warner Home Video Region:\u00a01 (NTSC) Released:\u00a0May 13, 2008 Genre:\u00a0 Melodrama \/ WWII Synopsis:\u00a0Based on James Jones’ novel, a black sheep returns home after WWII and stirs up trouble in his hated home town. Special Features:\u00a0Featurette: \u201cThe Story of Some Came Running\u201d (20:35) \/ Theatrical Trailer. \u00a0   Review:   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[3835,937,1174,4262,3666,1820,4263],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3qk","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13164"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13183,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13164\/revisions\/13183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}