Higher and Higher (1943) (2025)

Popular reviews

• Review by Robin ★★★½

  Frank Sinatra in his cutest role. Himself.

• Review by nessa ★★★

  i'm sorry, but frank sinatra was out here looking that adorable and sounding that dreamy, and miss michèle morgan didn't instantly fall in love with him?!??!! even after he serenaded her with "a lovely way to spend an evening"??! preposterous!!!! couldn't be me!!!!!!!!!!!! couldn't be me in a million billion trillion years!!!!!!! smh

  anyway, this wasn't a stand-out film or anything, and to its credit, it wasn't trying to be. it knows what it is and goes with the flow of that, which i appreciate. that, along with a fun cast of characters in a fun little con artist plot, make it quite an enjoyable watch.

  now! y'all excuse me while i go on daydreaming about scrawny and cute as hell 1940s boy-next-door sinatra. be still my beating heart 💓

• Review by Pippin ★★★½ 2

  I have to say upfront that I am being pretty generous with my rating. I watched this for Frank Sinatra and you get some pretty cute early-Sinatra film moments throughout this. Sinatra plays a fictionalized version of himself and the other characters make fun of him which is pretty amusing to watch now.

  The story itself is interesting and the musical numbers are pretty fun but it definitely does drag in certain places. I also think the main romance is weird and Sinatra is oddly utilized. Don't watch this for "The Sinatra Show" but I also think enjoyment out of this can come through being a Sinatra fan.

  I keep repeating the line, "Good morning, my name is Frank Sinatra"…

• Review by Quiller ★★½ 2

  Despite all the talent involved both in front of and behind the camera, including Frank Sinatra in his first true job of acting, this is a curiously bland and uninvolving musical comedy. In fact, I spent most of my time thinking about the better films most of the actors appeared in. (Hey, wasn’t Jack Haley the Tin Man in The Wizard Of Oz? Wasn’t Dooley Wilson in Casablanca? And wasn’t Elisabeth Risdon in High Sierra? Etc.) Part of the problem is that RKO completely reimagined the Rogers & Hart musical it’s based on. Only one of their original songs remains; the rest were written by Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson to suit Sinatra’s voice and style. Those songs, such as “I…

• Review by RKO_Chester ★★★

  Watched as part of a new experiment --- New Letterboxd list here has more details (if interested)

  JackHaley, aka the lovable Tin man is billed above Frank Sinatra herein ---- now that's the definition of being a star!

  Lots of folks probably think of Haley only as the Tin Man, but Haley was a talented performer and I see him as a talent. I used to think that mostly Bolger and Garland were what made The Wizard of Oz special, but after seeing that many times, now I would say that Haley, Frank Morgan and Margaret Hamilton were almost as important and together (with Bert Lahr) contributed a hell of lot to making that film the best all around film…

• Review by 🥀 e m m é 🇵🇸 ★★★

  Sinatra had previously appeared onscreen as a musical performer in three films before Higher and Higher, including the very charming Ann Miller vehicle, Reveille with Beverly, but here he finally made his acting debut. Even though Frankie gets to be a character in this story, that character is just himself; he literally walks into the movie and says, “Hello, my name is Frank Sinatra.”

  Higher and Higher was originally a Broadway show, which is very apparent in the ensemble numbers. The opening song feels like it ought to have a spotlight dancing across a stage to feature each member of the cast; editing together various shots of them in different rooms of a house feels flat by comparison. It’s an…

• Review by kamryn ★★★

  the little girl harassing Sinatra is just like me fr

• Review by RKO_Chester ★★★

  2021 February (a song & dance month for me): See my

  6.75 /10

  Best song: 'Disgustingly Rich'
  Performers: Jack Haley, Mary Wickes, Leon Errol & others

  French actress Michèle Morgan (playing a scullery maid tasked to impersonate Leon Errol's debutante daughter) does a swell job as the lead (though her singing is dubbed). Jack Haley is very entertaining and Errol is captivating. And for bonuses we have Victor Borge, Mel Tormé and Frank Sinatra.

  Contrary to the poster, this is not 'The Sinatra Show.' Frank does make his film debut here and sings 5 songs, but this movie is much more than that. It is based on a 1940 Broadway musical, is entertaining and has all the drive of a high-energy fast-paced musical comedy.

• Review by Calliope Keaton ★★★

  Honestly here for Sinatra...the rest of it was goofy as hell but that's what musicals are like sometimes HAHA 😂

  Also kinda adored Frank playing a bit of a weird 'cupid on your shoulder' role, considering it appears he was basically shoved into this for...reasons?

• Review by Brenda ★★★★★

  The little girl was so real

• Review by 11oan ★★★★★

  I FW THE SOUNDTRACK, in particular music sung by Sinatra, (that's all I need)
  …especially “I couldn’t sleep a wink last night„
  Damn, I'll give it 5⭐️just for the music

  I love the music in this film so much that I had to buy the vinyl…

• Review by Kristen ★★½

  Sinatra was absolutely precious in this, the plot didn’t matter much to me besides him