''Higher and Higher'' is a 1944 musical film starring

Michèle Morgan Michèle Morgan (; née Simone Renée Roussel; 29 February 1920 – 20 December 2016) was a French film actress, who was a leading lady for three decades in both French cinema and Hollywood features. She is considered to have been one of the g ...

Jack Haley John Joseph Haley Jr. (August 10, 1897 – June 6, 1979) was an American actor, comedian, dancer, radio host, singer and vaudevillian. He was best known for his portrayal of the Tin Man and his farmhand counterpart Hickory in the 1939 Metro-G ...

, and Frank Sinatra, loosely based on a 1940

Broadway musical Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

written by Gladys Hurlbut and Joshua Logan. The film version, written by

Jay Dratler Jay Dratler (September 14, 1910 – September 25, 1968) was an American screenwriter and novelist."Jay Dratler, Screenwriter, Dies in Mexico" (8 Oct 1968) ''Los Angeles Times''"Jay Dratler Dies; Wrote for Screen" (October 16, 1968) ''New York Tim ...

and Ralph Spence with additional dialogue by

William Bowers William Bowers (January 17, 1916 – March 27, 1987) was an American reporter, playwright, and screenwriter. He worked as a reporter in Long Beach, California and for ''Life'' magazine, and specialized in writing comedy-westerns. He also turn ...

and Howard Harris, diverges significantly from its source. The film has songs by

Jimmy McHugh James Francis McHugh (July 10, 1894 – May 23, 1969) was an American composer. One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, he is credited with over 500 songs. His songs were recorded by many artists, including Chet Baker, Ju ...

(music) and

Harold Adamson Harold Campbell Adamson (December 10, 1906 – August 17, 1980) was an American lyricist during the 1930s and 1940s. Early life Adamson, the son of building contractor Harold Adamson and Marion "Minnie" Campbell Adamson, was born and raised in ...

(lyrics), as well as one song by

Rodgers and Hart Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership between composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and the lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895–1943). They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart' ...

, "Disgustingly Rich", that remains from the stage production.

Plot

The household staff of millionaire piano manufacturer Cyrus Drake hasn't been paid for seven months when his bankruptcy and impending foreclosure is announced. With the wife and daughter of Cyrus on a long trip abroad, a scheme is formed to pass off the attractive young scullery maid Millie as the socialite daughter, Pamela Drake, and marry her off to a rich man so there will be money for all. The valet, Mike O'Brien, helps with the transformation, unaware that Millie is secretly in love with him. Asked if she had ever been courted, Millie mentions that she likes the way a young man next door sometimes sings to her. His name is Frank Sinatra; his crooning is featured, to the delight of his bobby soxer fan base. There are also many tongue-in-cheek jokes at his expense, e.g. "You sound like someone I've heard on the radio!" and "I'm going to listen to ''Bing!''". The social secretary, Sandy, begins to teach Millie the proper etiquette and how to walk and talk like a debutante. At her coming-out ball, where Georgia Keating, a high-society friend of the Drakes, wants her daughter Katherine to be considered the most desirable deb, Millie is nudged toward Sir Victor Fitzroy Victor, K.B.O.B.E, a titled nobleman she should marry. No one there knows that Victor cannot even pay his hotel bill, and is actually a petty thief named Joe Brown. He is hoping to catch a rich girl to pay off his own debts. Millie is not in love, but agrees to marry him for everyone's sake. Mike mistakenly thinks that she's in love with Frank, so he helps Millie get out of the wedding at the last minute. Mike also stumbles onto a hidden speakeasy in the Drake basement, which contains the Drake family's valuable first harpsichord and a fully stocked wine cellar. When the place is opened as "Drake's Amsterdam Tavern, New York's most novel nightclub", their financial troubles are over. Victor, aka Joe Brown, works there as a bartender. Finally realizing his love for Millie, Mike nobly bows out so she can be with Frank. Mike leaves to resume his vaudeville career. When he receives an invitation to Frank and ''Katherine's'' wedding, Mike returns to confront Frank for spurning Millie. Much to his surprise, he finally learns that Millie has only ever been in love with ''him''. Mike and Millie begin their romance, dancing beautifully ''Higher and Higher'' into the clouds.

Main cast

Production notes

''Higher and Higher'' marked the second of Sinatra's forty-plus film credits. (His first was in the film '' Reveille with Beverly'', in which he played himself.)

Reception

The film made a profit of $780,000.Richard B. Jewell, ''Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures'', Uni of California, 2016

Awards

The film was nominated for a 1945

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

for Best Music, Original Song for the song "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night", and also for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture for

Constantin Bakaleinikoff Constantin Romanovich Bakaleinikov (also spelled Bakaleynikov and Bakaleinikoff; russian: Константин Романович Бакалейников; 26 April 1896 – 3 September 1966) was a Russian-born composer who worked in Hollywood, Cal ...

References

External links

* * * * {{Tim Whelan 1940s musical films 1943 films American black-and-white films Films directed by Tim Whelan RKO Pictures films American musical films Films based on musicals 1940s American films