HOME ENTERTAINMENT : Through the Years With Sinatra on Video

Start spreading the news: Ol’ Blue Eyes turns 80 on Tuesday. And a terrific way to celebrate Frank Sinatra’s birthday is to check out one of his many films currently available on video.

Sinatra was the big bobby-sox idol when he made his acting debut in 1943’s “Higher and Higher” (Turner Home Entertainment), a slight but enjoyable musical comedy. Sinatra introduces the standard “I Couldn’t Sleep a Wink Last Night.” Leon Errol and Michele Morgan also star.

Sinatra’s early screen image was one of a shy, sweet young man. And he plays that to perfection in 1945’s “Anchors Aweigh” (MGM/UA). In this charming musical comedy, he and Gene Kelly are two sailors on leave in Hollywood. Sinatra sings the Oscar-nominated tune “I Fall in Love Too Easily.”

Four years later, Sinatra and Kelly starred in the catchy “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (MGM/UA) and the landmark “On the Town” (MGM/UA), one of the best movie musicals ever made.

His career was at its lowest when he was cast in 1953’s “From Here to Eternity” (Columbia/TriStar). Sinatra proved his acting prowess in this Oscar-winning drama based on James Jones’ novel about a group of soldiers stationed in Honolulu just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Sinatra took home the best supporting actor award for his memorable turn as the kind-hearted Angelo Maggio, who is murdered by the sadistic Fatso Judson (Ernest Borgnine). Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed star; Fred Zinnemann directed.

The following year, Sinatra starred in the underrated “Suddenly” (Nostalgia Family Video, Sinister Cinema). He’s truly scary in this taut melodrama as a crazed gunman out to murder the president. Sinatra later pulled the film from circulation when he discovered that Lee Harvey Oswald watched it just a few days before he assassinated President Kennedy.

Sinatra received a best actor Oscar nomination for his riveting performance in 1955’s “The Man With the Golden Arm” (Warner Home Video) as Frankie Machine, an ex-junkie who gets mixed up yet again in the world of drugs. Otto Preminger directed the adaptation of Nelson Algren’s controversial novel.

The breezy 1955 comedy “The Tender Trap” (MGM/UA) finds Sinatra as a perennial bachelor who falls for a young performer (Debbie Reynolds) and discovers love is the tender trap. David Wayne and Celeste Holm also star.

Rat Packers Sinatra and Dean Martin teamed up for the first time in the florid 1958 melodrama “Some Came Running” (MGM/UA). In this James Jones story, Sinatra plays a would-be writer who returns to his small hometown after the war. Shirley MacLaine also stars in director Vincente Minnelli’s hit.

Other Rat Pack films: 1960’s “Ocean’s 11” (Warner), 1963’s “Four for Texas” (Warner) and 1964’s “Robin and the Seven Hoods” (Warner).

The 1962 political thriller “The Manchurian Candidate” (MGM/UA) is one of Sinatra’s best films and one of the best movies ever. Marvelously directed by John Frankenheimer, the terrifying “Candidate” finds Sinatra as a Korean War vet who believes that he and his platoon may have been brainwashed by the North Koreans. The terrific cast features Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury (who received a supporting actress Oscar nomination), Janet Leigh and James Gregory. Based on Richard Condon’s novel.

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Documentaries: “Gertrude Stein: When This You See, Remember Me” (Meridian, $40) is a provocative 1970 documentary on the famed writer and art collector. Included is an excerpt from the only radio broadcast she made and interviews with friends and colleagues--Virgil Thompson, Bennett Cerf and Janet Flanner.

Danny Glover’s the host and narrator of “Civil War Journal II” (A&E; Home Video, $120), an educational, well-crafted six-part series examining the personal side of the Civil War.

A Killer B: Michael Ironside, Kate Vernon and Craig T. Nelson star in “Probable Cause” (Live), a gory, predictable crime thriller about a serial cop killer.

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New This Week: Sylvester Stallone stars in “Judge Dredd” (Hollywood Pictures).

John Candy headlines Michael Moore’s comedy “Canadian Bacon” (PolyGram).

Hugh Grant is “The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain” (Miramax).

Sean Connery, Richard Gere and Julia Ormond star in “First Knight” (Columbia/TriStar), a retelling of the Camelot myth.

“The Land Before Time III: The Time of Great Giving” (MCA/Universal, $20) is the second straight-to-video sequel to the popular 1988 Steven Spielberg/Don Bluth animated hit about a group of young dinosaurs. This time around, Little Foot and friends battle an acute water shortage in the Great Valley. Not dino-mite entertainment, but fine for the wee ones.