Frank Sinatra

A professional assassin and his men take over a quiet house in the small town of Suddenly, California, planning to shoot the President of the United States when his train stops there. The family living in the house becomes hostages, and the town sheriff, who is sweet on the daughter, stumbles into the trap and has to find a way to stop it. Frank Sinatra plays the killer as a jittery, sneering psychopath who genuinely enjoys the prospect of murder, a long way from his usual smooth persona. Sterling Hayden is the upright sheriff who matches wits with him. The whole film plays out almost entirely inside one house, which keeps the tension coiled. The film entered the public domain due to non-renewal of its copyright. It is one of the more tense and compact crime thrillers of the 1950s, and Sinatra's performance is the reason it is still watched.

Crime · Noir · Thriller

A ten-minute short film starring Frank Sinatra, directed by Mervyn LeRoy and written by Albert Maltz. While on a break from a recording session, Sinatra stops a group of boys from chasing a Jewish youngster and talks to them about racial and religious tolerance, singing the Earl Robinson-Abel Meeropol song "The House I Live In." Commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith to oppose anti-Semitism at the end of World War II, the film received an Honorary Academy Award and a special Golden Globe in 1946. It was selected for the National Film Registry in 2007. The film is in the public domain.

Drama · Music

A card-dealing junkie fresh out of prison tries to go straight as a drummer, but his wheelchair-bound wife and old dealer pull him back toward heroin. Otto Preminger fought the Production Code to release the film, which broke the taboo on depicting drug addiction. Frank Sinatra gives one of his most serious performances. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Drama · Noir