Frank Sinatra-Man and His Music, A-Part II (with Nancy Sinatra) (1966)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Notes-DVD Catalogue Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1966
Running Time	50:42
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Dwight Hemion
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Frank Sinatra
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$34.95	Music	Frank Sinatra

    Sinatra: A Man and His Music Part II is a very enjoyable made-for-television special, showcasing Sinatra performing some of his favourite tunes.

    Two of Sinatra's children followed him into show business, Frank Jr and Nancy. While Frank Jr's career never really got off the ground, Nancy achieved success (and two gold records) with hits such as Downtown and These Boots Are Made For Walking. In this 1966 television special, Sinatra is joined by his daughter Nancy for a few songs, and they display a great chemistry together. Sinatra is obviously very proud of his daughter, and he beams as she steps into the spotlight with him. Sinatra also appears to have a lot of fun during this television special, and his enjoyment is infectious.

    Warner Vision are releasing a series of ten Sinatra DVDs. Each captures a different Sinatra performance over the many years. This one features Sinatra  in the mid-sixties when he was arguably at his peak as a performer. Sinatra: 'Ole Blue Eyes', 'The Boy Singer', 'The Chairman of the Board', 'The Thin Man', 'The Saloon Singer' or as I simply remember him, 'The Voice'.

Video

    The quality of the transfer is very good, considering the age of the source material.   

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame, non-16x9 enhanced.    

    The image is generally quite soft throughout, but I did not find this distracting. There is not much shadow detail, and there is some low level noise on occasion, for example at 49:21.   

    The colour is a little faded, but this is acceptable when one considers that the source material is a 1960s NTSC television broadcast.

    There are a few MPEG artefacts present. At times the transfer displays slight pixelization, for example at 17:32. Close-ups of Sinatra's face can display slight posterization, such as at 7:25. There is also some macro-blocking in the background, for example the background sets at 15:18 and 23:25.

    There was some very slight aliasing on occasion, for example Sinatra's jacket at 6:22. There are also small white flecks appearing randomly throughout, seemingly caused by tape drop-out.

    All the subtitles promised on the packaging were present. While the non-English subtitles would only appear during the spoken passages, the English subtitles would also display the song lyrics during Frank's performance. The English subtitles were accurate.

    This is a single-layered disc which is acceptable considering the length of the material.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The quality of the audio is also good considering the age of the source material.

    There is only one audio track on this DVD, an English PCM track adapted from the original mono source. There is none of the heavy background hiss often apparent in mono tracks of this vintage.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are very good. Sinatra's lyrics, as always, are clear, and his unique phrasing sits well in the audio mix. Apart from singing, there is also quite a bit of Sinatra's banter in between tracks, which as always, involves his self-deprecating humour.

    A full and rich sound is provided by the full orchestra that backs Sinatra, and in the spirit of 1960s hip-culture, some of the arrangements are quite funky, such as You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You, which has some Dr John style doodlings on an electric piano.

    As a PCM track, the surround speakers and subwoofer are not called upon during this DVD.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    This DVD contains few extras.

Menu

    The DVD auto-plays on loading, but there is a menu if you select it. It is static and without audio.

Trailer

    This four minute and nineteen second trailer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame, non-16x9 enhanced with an English PCM track. It advertises the series of ten Sinatra DVDs that Warner Vision is releasing, as opposed to this DVD in particular. I assume that this trailer appears on all ten DVDs.

Catalogue

    Purely text-based, this extra lists the tracks on Warner Vision's ten Sinatra DVDs. Again I assume that this extra appears on all ten DVDs.

    The Region 1 version of this DVD was released in September, 1999. It only differs from the Region 4 version in the design of the slick. Therefore I easily favour our version based on its availability, and most importantly, its superior PAL image.

    If, like me, you are a Sinatra fan with a collection of Sinatra videos, the time to put them aside has come.  Sinatra: A Man and His Music Part I and Part II both belong in your collection.

    The video quality is good considering the age of the source material.

    The audio quality is also good considering the age of the source material.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall