REVIEW:  Passport Video has collected several public-domain releases, of varying quality and gathered them into a handy box set for collectors The Ultimate Frank Sinatra Collection - and although none of these releases are of top-quality, either in picture or sound, they are certainly on par with other budget releases, and its certainly nice to have them all in one place.  Unfortunately starting things out with the horrendous They Were Very Good Years "documentary" which manages to ramble around for nearly five hours in an incoherent manner, followed quickly by the turgid Frank Sinatra Memorial both of which have previously appeared on Passport DVDs.  Following this are two episodes of Hollywood Couples excerpted from a larger box set, and equally inane.  These nigh-well worthless "documentaries" make up the first four discs of the set and will tax the patience of anyone who attempts to wade through them all.  However, by disc five this set begins to show its worth, collecting extant copies of several TV series which Frank either hosted or guest-starred on, and these are fascinating time capsules from bygone television eras when actual STARS would entertain you - chummy episodes of Frank's Timex Show, his later "Frank Sinatra" show and guest spots on shows by Dinah Shore, Bob Hope and Milton Berle are fun watching, even with the low kinescope-quality they possess.  Some, like the Bulava Show with guest star Dagmar I'd never seen before, and was happy to have.  The set closes out with several public domain films: Suddenly, The Man With The Golden Arm and the short 10-minute Road To Victory are included, along with a short star-filled documentary "Hollywood Remembers Frank Sinatra" which is a little more coherent than the former docs included.  Again, not top quality, but a nice, space-saving collection for those who haven't seen some of the included programs.

Sammy Davis Jr., Liza Minnelli, and Frank Sinatra Sing For You - Live From Detroit
Tipica/SBP Productions COD 065-03/COD 51591 [DVD];
Released 2009

Product description: Complete 90-minute 1988 concert from the Fox Theater in Detroit.  Highlights include: Sammy Davis Jr. "With A Song In My Heart", "The Candy Man", "What Kind of Fool Am I?" and "The Music of the Night" Liza Minnelli "All That Jazz", "Cabaret" "Quiet Love", "Ring The Bells" Frank Sinatra "Where Or When", "For Once In My Life", "Mack The Knife", Once For My Baby", "My Way"  Medley with Sammy, Liza and Frank Also available as Live In Detroit

REVIEW:  An entertaining concert from the late 1980s, this concert captures each of these performers in interesting ways: Sammy Davis Jr., sixty-two years old at the time of this performance, breezes through his seven-song set, shrugging off "The Candy Man" - which he grudgingly acknowledges as his biggest hit in a quickie performance, but then sweating blood during "What Kind Of Fool Am I?" and inhabits the role of romantic anti-hero in his reverent take on Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Music Of The Night".  Easily the most surreal moment is his lengthy monologue on his "like a son" relationship with Michael Jackson, including a very funny roasting of Jackson's "Bad" - which is surprisingly adept as he mimics Jackson's dance moves (including several yelping crotch grabs). Liza Minnelli's set is pure melodrama, with Minnelli engaging in her over-the-top histrionics and scenery chewing throughout - it's pure Broadway schmaltz, but never less than watchable.  Compared to these two performers, Frank's set is the soul of restraint - at seventy-three, he's pure class, even though he's not in the best voice - gravelly on the low notes, and soft in his upper range during "Where Or When" and mellow on a slow take of "For Once In My Life".  He burns his way through a darkly buzzing "Mack The Knife".  Frank takes a cigarette and drink as props for "One For My Baby", and then brings the house down with "My Way".  Sammy and Liza then rejoin the stage for a mega-medley of their individual hits which shows the warm regard they have for each other.  The DVD I watched is a Spanish import, with corresponding menus and subtitles; and the producers have futzed with the aspect ratio, squeezing the original 1.33:1 format into a letterboxed 1.85:1, and the video quality and sound, although good, isn't perfect.  Still a fun concert from these three showbiz legends.