The Tender Trap [Blu-ray]

Overview

Max Shulman and Robert Paul Smith's Broadway hit The Tender Trap is transformed into a beguiling Frank Sinatra film vehicle. Sinatra plays a Manhattan showbiz agent, Charlie Y. Reader, who enjoys the attentions of several willing young ladies. At an audition, Charlie meets aspiring actress Julie Gillis (Debbie Reynolds), who is so determined to land a husband that she's already set the date. She goes out with Charlie for a short while, then announces that she won't marry him until he gives up all his other girls. Charlie, who hasn't said word one about marriage and who'd been preparing to give Julie the brush-off, is startled by her ultimatum -- so much so that he genuinely falls in love with her, which (we can safely assume) was her intention all along. A complication involving Charlie's former amour Sylvia Crewes (Celeste Holm) and his best friend Joe McCall (David Wayne) paves the way for the film's slightly offbeat denouement. In addition to scoring at the box office, The Tender Trap yielded a hit song (written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen), which would remain a part of Frank Sinatra's repertoire for the rest of his life.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/25/2021
UPC:	0883929741014
Original Release:	1955
Source:	Warner Archives
Language:	English
Time:	1:51:00
Sales rank:	29,805

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Debbie Reynolds	Julie Gillis
Frank Sinatra	Charlie Y. Reader
David Wayne	Joe McCall
Celeste Holm	Sylvia Crewes
Jarma Lewis	Jessica Collins
Lola Albright	Poppy Matson
Carolyn Jones	Helen
Howard St. John	Sam Sayers
Joey Faye	Sol Z. Steiner
Tom Helmore	Mr. Loughran
Willard Sage	Director
Marc Wilder	Ballet Actor
Jack Boyle	Audition Dancer
James Drury	Eddie
Benny Rubin	Mr. Wilson
Reginald Simpson	Stage Manager
Gil Harman	TV Announcer
Madge Blake	Society Reporter
Wilson Wood	Elevator Boy
Frank Sully	Doorman
Gordon Richards	Doorman
Lennie Bremen	Cab Driver
Dave White	Cab Driver
Jimmy Van Heusen	Composer

Technical Credits

Julius J. Epstein

Charles Walters	Director
Julius J. Epstein	Screenwriter
Lawrence Weingarten	Producer

Editorial Reviews

While it's hardly a great film, The Tender Trap is a cut above your standard, run-of-the-mill sex comedies, especially those that masquerade as romantic comedies. Trap's defects are easy to spot. The two leading characters, especially the one played by Debbie Reynolds, are the kind of opposites-attract pair that rarely exist outside of a writer's imagination. Reynolds, in particular, is a type that seems to have been born in a typewriter. It's not that extremely marriage-minded woman don't exist; it's that, even in 1955, they were not as single-mindedly determined in the manner that Reynolds is here. The lack of credibility extends to a lesser degree to Frank Sinatra, whose playboy's irresistibility to women just is a bit too much to believe. Much of the plot is too mechanical and predictable, and the audience only believes that Sinatra and Reynolds get together at the end because of the charm and persuasiveness of the stars themselves. That said, Trap does have some very fine moments, and the characters portrayed by Celeste Holm and David Wayne are actually quite nicely drawn. Helped along by the actors' superlative performances, these two characters really anchor the film and give it a degree of distinction. Without them, Trap would be entertaining but forgettable; with them, it lingers in the mind far longer than it really should.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler