Frank Sinatra-Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing (1968)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Notes-Catalogue Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1968
Running Time	51:46 (Case: 50)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Clark Jones
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Frank Sinatra Diahann Carroll The 5th Dimension
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$34.95	Music	Various

    Frank Sinatra: Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing is a late 1960s made-for-television presentation featuring Sinatra performing with special guests Diahann Carroll and The 5th Dimension.

   While Sinatra (and 'his thing') need no introduction, I may need to remind some readers as to who Diahann Carroll and The 5th Dimension are:

    Diahann Carroll is a brilliant singer and stage and film actress who appeared in Carmen Jones (1954) and Porgy and Bess (1957). She was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award for her role in Claudine (1974). She also appeared in a few successful television series, such as the working-mother title character in Julia (1968–71), in her own variety television show, The Diahann Carroll Show (1976), and as a glamorous, scheming businesswoman on Dynasty (1984–87).

    The 5th Dimension had a few hits during the late 1960s, but will probably forever be remembered for their classic song about a beautiful balloon, Up Up And Away (1967), and for their hippie masterpiece from the Musical Hair,  Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In (1969). Believe it or not, The 5th Dimension are still performing, and released a CD of new material in 1995. I suppose for some, the Age of Aquarius never ends, (nor should it).

Video

    The quality of the transfer is good considering the source material, which is a 1960s US television broadcast.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame.    

    The image is soft throughout. The black level and shadow detail are acceptable. There is some low level noise on occasion, for example at 41:06.   

    Considering the age of the source material, the colour is good, although a little dark.

    There are a few MPEG artefacts present. Despite the softness, the transfer displays slight pixelization, for example at 23:06. Close-ups of Sinatra's face can display posterization, such as at 9:13. There is also some macro-blocking, for example the background set at 41:26.

    There was some very mild aliasing on occasion, a slight shimmer here and there, but nothing to really complain about.

    There are a few video tape glitches which cause a fuzzy horizontal line to flash across the screen. Early examples of this can be seen at 0:07 and 0:32.

    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 and content 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 good considering the age of the source material. There are a few drop-outs and other glitches, but I imagine that these are all in the source material.

    There is only one audio track on this DVD, an English PCM 2.0 track adapted from the original mono source.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are good, and Sinatra's lyrics, as always, are very clear. In what must have been a courageous move on US network television, Sinatra makes a few comments in favour of the Black Civil Rights movement, and makes a point of hugging and kissing his black co-stars.

    All the music is arranged and conducted by Don Costa, and enjoys a relatively good dynamic range. There is a full orchestra and a choir of back-up singers. Deep bass is often heard, such as during Diahann Carroll's performance (It's The) Music That Makes Me Dance. Many of the songs Sinatra performs here are not familiar to me, yet I enjoyed most of them. Highlights include his performance with The 5th Dimension, and his duet with Diahann Carroll of jazzed-up black spirituals.

    As a PCM track, the surround speakers and subwoofer are not called upon by 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 June 1999. It only differs from the Region 4 version in the design of the slick. We can call it even, but personally, I easily favour our version based on its availability, and its superior PAL image.

    Warner Vision are releasing a series of ten Sinatra DVDs. Each captures a different Sinatra performance over the many years. This performance is well worth seeing by Sinatra fans, as there are a few unfamiliar gems to be found here. Sinatra and his guests provide a great performance during this DVD, and they are at their best when they join forces.

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

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

    The extras are not worth mentioning.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall