"Rat Pack" seems to be almost a catch-phrase for sets for movies and music these days, as a new generation, thanks to singers like Michael Buble, and remakes of movies like Oceans 11, discovers the original cool cats of the 50's and 60's, the "Rat Pack" of performers who mostly haunted Las Vegas. The core Rat Pack was Frank, Dean, and Sammy (Sinatra, Martin, and Davis, Jr.). At times Peter Lawford was added, and also at times Joey Bishop was added. Shirley Maclaine was an honorary member, though she did not perform onstage with the others, only in some of their movies (and she did go out partying with them after shows, which is actually where their nickname came from). So, someone decided to market these four movies together as a "Rat Pack" set, though they really are not "Rat Pack" movies!

Each movie features ONE of the members of the Rat Pack, never any two of them in the same movie, and they were not really done in the Rat Pack era (they predate that time frame). While each movie comes with trivia and brief biographical information about the featured Rat, and they list several of the movies which DID star all of the Rat Packers together, there is no other tie-in with the Rat Pack itself, so I think it's fair to say that marketing the 2-disc pack as a Rat Pack set is strictly a marketing ploy.

Nonetheless, I'd never have gotten it if it had not been marketed that way, and I did enjoy it quite a bit. My sons picked it up for me BECAUSE of the Rat Pack label (knowing I'm a huge Dean Martin fan). I said it was a 4-1/2 pack because it actually contains the following:
1. Suddenly, a movie with Frank Sinatra, 1954, 75 minutes
2. At War with The Army, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis,
1950, 93 minutes.
3. Royal Wedding, Peter Lawford, 1951, 93 minutes
4. Frank Sinatra, In the House I Live In, 1945, 11 min.
5. TV episode Colgate Hour w/Sammy Davis Jr. 55 min (1954).
So it's really like four features and one short.

Suddenly
The first movie stars Sterling Hayden as the sheriff of a small town sort of reminiscent of Mayberry. The town's name is Suddenly. A huge event is happening on the day the movie covers - The President's train is going to briefly stop in Suddenly and he will disembark and go by car to a remote getaway for a brief stopover. The town is flooded with Secret Service, State troopers and all sorts of police at the last minute (for security reasons, no one was told until the last minute), because there had been a threat on the president's life and they do not want an assassination attempt. Alas, Frank Sinatra, leader of a small gang of bad guys, has out-thunk 'em, and he is ALSO in Suddenly on this very day! I enjoyed this black and white movie because so many scenes in it reminded me of growing up visiting my grandmother's house and small towns "in the country" of my elder relatives - the types of buildings that were actually in use then, the train station, telegraph office, stores, homes - everything was just as it really was in small towns back in the late 40's/early 50's. It was more Mayberry than Mayberry! My only complaint is that near the end, at a suspenseful part, the DVD started skipping. I backed it up and replayed several times, but it still skipped and did that stop-action thing that I hate (brand new). I have no idea if this would occur on someone else's DVD or not, but this was the first time I played it, fresh out of the sealed case. It did rectify before the crucial last minutes of the story, and I could figure out what was happening during the aggravating stop/jump/stop/jump stuff!

At War With the Army
Though Dino is definitely my favorite Rat Packer, this was my least favorite feature of the set. Starring both Martin and Jerry Lewis, it is predictably slapstick. It is of interest that this is the first feature film they made as a team that actually starred the two AS a team. They had done the two Irma movies as supporting actors, and had been so well-received in those that they'd been given the chance to star in their "own" movie. Dean was first sargeant Vic Puccinelli, and Jerry was PFC Alvin Korwin. Most of the film was shot in a simple set representing two rooms of a base office. I personally thought that this movie's so-called "plot" was confusing at times, a couple of characters were hard to distinguish, and it was just silly. This movie did have another distinction, however: it "introduced" Polly Bergen! If you only remember her from "To Tell The Truth" you might be surprised to see how gorgeous she was in this film as Helen Palmer!

Royal Wedding
Now my LEAST favorite rat has always been Peter Lawford, BUT this feature, Royal Wedding, was wonderful. First of all, he was not the star. Fred Astaire and Jane Powell starred as Tom and Ellen Bowen, a brother-and-sister dance team who closed their show in the U.S. and went to England just as the fervor over the upcoming Royal Wedding was reaching its peak. Though both of them had professed a desire to remain single (sort of married to their careers and in a platonic sense, to each other), in England they each fell in love...complicating things quite a bit. What would happen to their dance career(s) if one were to get married and leave the other? It was unthinkable! Peter Lawford was Lord John Brindale, a former playboy type, whom Ellen fell in love with. This movie was in beautiful technicolor, and the sets and the costumes and such were fantastic. The dance scenes were really outstanding - all these folks on "Dancing with the Stars" type competitions should just watch and drool - and this movie includes the "dancing on the ceiling" number, and even explains how it was done. Absolutely the best movie of the lot, and worth getting the set for. (Oh, and by the way, the story was loosely based on the story of Fred Astaire and his sister, Adele Astaire, as it tells you in the trivia section.)

The House I Live In
This is an amazing little piece for a couple of reasons. It is like a public service announcement, attempting to teach children not to be prejudiced against someone because of their religion (with other prejudices sort of thrown in, in the summary statement). Being from 1945, it features a younger Frank than many of us have ever seen; he is almost unrecognizable! Even his voice sounds vastly different. Being as old as it is, I would ASSUME that it was shown along with movies on "the big screen" and not made for television. (B&W)

Bonus TV Episode: Sammy Davis Jr. In The Colgate Comedy Hour (1954, 55 minutes)
Other guests: The Will Maston Trio, The Gaylords, Jay Lawrence, Gene Sheldon, Connie Russell.
Sammy started out with the Will Maston Trio, which included his father, Sammy Sr. The most interesting thing about this feature, to me, was to see Sammy (Jr.) before the accident that cost him his eye. His whole face and demeanor is so much different as he looks at the camera wide-eyed and with an even smile, instead of the sort of crooked grin we remember him with. (It was later that same year that he had the accident that made him use a glass eye afterwards.) At any rate, this was a "Summer" Colgate Hour, and Sammy Jr. was onstage a lot during this time, and he displayed his talent for playing drums (and boy did he look like he was having fun!) as well as his enormous talent for impersonations. If you have not seen Rat Pack performances (or tapes or DVDs of same) where Sammy did impersonations, you may not know that his talent in that field rivaled his singing talent! Connie Russell sang two or three songs, as did the Gaylords (a trio), and it was more a variety hour than strictly comedy. This was also in black and white, and the quality wasn't perfect, but it was certainly good enough to watch without having any problems.

Overall
Even though I did not care much for the movie "starring" my Dino, I did enjoy the other movies on these two discs, especially "Suddenly" and "Royal Wedding." I happen to like old movies. Those who don't, probably won't care for this. And folks should be warned that this is not really a Rat Pack set in a sense of any movies starring more than one Rat Pack member in one movie. But with those caveats, I can recommend it. You can easily watch one movie at a time, and each movie has its own scene selections, trivia, and biography (really a brief timeline for the Rat Packer featured). For bargain bin prices, what more could you ask?


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older