Frank Sinatra and Doris Day in "Young at heart"

Frank Sinatra & Doris Day in a scene from "Young at Heart" (1954)

In ‘Young at Heart’ (1954) a remake of ‘Four Daughters’ (1938) and ‘Always in My Heart’ (1942), Doris Day plays Laurie, the eldest of the Tuttle sisters, all eager to fall head over heels in love and sing away the day. They travel around as a singing quartet with their father and fear that their answers are somewhere out there in the big wide world away from the small homestead.

That is until Alex (Gig Young) walks into their lives and brings piano man Barney Sloan (Frank Sinatra) with him. Surly Sloan seems a fish out of water amongst the happiness of the Tuttle existence, but this only serves as a mission for the ever so happy Laurie to place a smile on his grim face and change his outlook to the world.

Dorothy Malone as Fran Tuttle, Doris Day as Laurie Tuttle, Elisabeth Fraser as Amy Tuttle and Robert Keith as Gregory Tuttle

"You get Doris Day delivering a range of delightful, sweet numbers such as "Ready, Willing and Able", "Hold Me in Your Arms" and "There's a Rising Moon for Every Falling Star" whilst Sinatra in fitting with his darker character gives us more bluesy almost down beat songs such as "Someone to Watch Over Me", "Just One of Those Things" and also "Young at Heart" which he duets with Doris Day on. The contrast of music makes it quite interesting and each song is perfectly pitched to fit in with the emotions of the scene.

Performance wise well Doris Day is as delightful as always, perky, fun loving and optimistic yet she also gets chance to show that she is more than capable as an actress. There are scenes within "Young at Heart" which allow Doris Day to show her range of emotion and in certain more serious scenes it's all quite touching and even realistic as she emits sadness.

Frank Sinatra plays Barney Sloan in "Young at heart" (1954) directed by Gordon Douglas

Alongside Day is Frank Sinatra cast as a complete opposite to the perky Laurie, he's on a permanent downer, the glass is always half empty and as such Sinatra is surprisingly convincing, delivering the believability of someone who just can't get a break". Source: www.themoviescene.co.uk

Frank Sinatra with Doris Day and Lauren Bacall at the Sands in 1955