PAL JOEY (1957)

WORLD PREMIERE RESTORATION

Frank Sinatra scored a major hit when Columbia Pictures spent 17 years trying to bring Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and John O’Hara’s caustic tale of a show-biz opportunist to the screen. That’s how long it took the studio to come up with a screenplay (eventually by Dorothy Kingsley) that would pass the Production Code. Along the way, the title character’s affair with a wealthy widow became a romance, suggestions of prostitution and homosexuality were erased, and the lead was changed from a dancer to a singer to accommodate Sinatra. He stars as an ambitious nightclub entertainer torn between the woman (Rita Hayworth) who wants to set him up in his own club and the chorus girl (Kim Novak) who’s won his heart. The film, which will debut its world premiere restoration at this year’s festival, gave Sinatra some of his most famous songs, three from other Rodgers and Hart shows, including “The Lady Is a Tramp,” arranged by frequent collaborator Nelson Riddle.

d. George Sidney, 109m, DCP

Restored in 4K by Sony Pictures Entertainment.  Picture restoration from the 35mm Original Negative and 35mm Duplicate Negative.   4K scanning and digital image restoration at Cineric, Inc., New York.  Audio restoration from the 35mm Magnetic Mono Soundtrack at Deluxe Audio Services.  Color grading, conforming, additional image restoration, DCP creation at Motion Picture Imaging, Burbank, with senior colorist Sheri Eisenberg.  Restoration supervised by Grover Crisp.