Parody?

I think what this film was trying for was to parody the "bandit chief wins fair lady" plotline typical of operetta of the late 19th, early 20th century. I don't think it quite succeeded though. The problem lies in Frank Sinatra's character. All of the other characters in the film are overblown caricatures of the type of people found in this kind of story. Sinatra's character is not a caricature, but a "nerd" posing as a bandit chief. Everyone else is doing parody, but Sinatra is doing a much more straightforward role. It just doesn't mesh together. With that said, there are a couple of musical numbers that stand out -- Ricardo Montalban, Cyd Charisse, and Ann Miller's dance specialty and Kathryn Grayson's rendition of "Love Is Where You Find It". The rest of the music is pretty, but nothing really great. I think a stronger score would have helped raise this interesting, but not quite there film to a higher level.