This week we need more than 20 films to spotlight one legend.

To mark the 10th year since Frank Sinatra, in the words of his signature ballad, “faced the final curtain,” Warner Home Video releases four collections of his films — along with several individual releases — with 11 titles making their DVD debut. The collections have been grouped thematically to focus on different times in his long career. They offer some fine footage and hidden delights.

But this week, we highlight what we consider the two most enjoyable collections. None of the films in “The Early Years” would qualify as great cinema, but they are all fascinating period artifacts.

Made from 1943 to 1951, the films star Sinatra, already a well-known pop idol who was just then making his way into movies. His raw acting still shows its rough edges, along with his oily hair, big ears and frighteningly thin frame. Sage studio heads put him opposite well-known (but not too well-known) actors of the era, and then let Sinatra belt out a song or two — even if his crooning didn’t always fit the plot.

Legendary songwriters Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne (Fiddler on the Roof) provided music and lyrics for the first three films listed below. None of the five rare films in this collection are rated, and they all come with theatrical trailers:

Frank Sinatra Collection: The Early Years

It Happened in Brooklyn, Step Lively, Double Dy­na­mite, Higher and Higher
and The Kissing Bandit

It Happened in Brooklyn (**1/2) Sinatra plays a GI returning from World War II to his hometown of Brooklyn, where he lands an apartment with the janitor (Jimmy Durante) of his old elementary school. While there, he falls for a teacher (Kathryn Grayson). Sinatra and Grayson team up for an awkward duet from Don Giovanni (“La ci darem la mano”), painfully proving that even Frank Sinatra has limits. Features the debut of “Time After Time.” 103 minutes.

Step Lively (***) Based on the same play as the source for the Marx Brothers’ movie Room Service, this musical comedy stars future California Sen. George Murphy as a fast-talking producer who pins his hopes on the talents of a young singer (Sinatra). It’s a French farce transposed to Broadway, as people run in and out of rooms, stealing meals and dodging the hotel manager (Walter Slezak), stopping just long enough for love to blossom, naturally propelled by Sinatra’s syrupy ballads. 88 minutes.

Double Dynamite (**1/2) Frank stars with Jane Russell and Groucho Marx, marking three widely different acting styles, or lack thereof. Frank and Jane play sweethearts who work in a bank but who are too poor to get married. Some money goes missing just about the time Frank strikes it big as a gambler.

Groucho steps in to help these knuckleheaded kids. One of the film’s few duets features Sinatra and Groucho. Total fluff. And yes, the title was rumored to be coyly named after Jane Russell’s most prominent assets. 80 minutes.

Higher and Higher (***) In his third movie appearance, in 1943, 27-year-old Frank received third billing, behind Michele Morgan and Jack Haley, the Tin Man of Oz fame. This filmed stage play with a Cinderella  theme offers plenty of musical interludes. Look for a young, bug-eyed Mel Torme and Dooley Wilson, remembered for his performance as the piano player who serenades Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lune in Casablanca. 90 minutes.

The Kissing Bandit (***) Teaming again with Kathryn Gray­son in a tale set in frontier California, Frank plays the title bandit, who falls in love with the governor’s daughter (Grayson). Highlights include superb colorful costumes and a dance se­quence with Ricardo Montalban, Ann Miller and Cyd Charisse. 100 minutes.

The Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly Collection

Take Me Out to the Ball Game,
On the Town and Anchors Aweigh

Marking a pinnacle in the movie careers of both Kelly and Sinatra, these three films sport an impressive array of talent both in front of and behind the camera, including direction and choreography by Stanley Donen and songs by Comden and Green.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame (***) Kelly and Sinatra play infielders in a turn-of-the-last-century professional baseball team that changes hands and becomes the property of a rich heiress (Esther Williams). Every­one sings and dances, while romance predictably blossoms. 93 minutes. Bonus extras include two deleted scenes, three trailers, and notes on Kelly and Sinatra.

On the Town (****) Sinatra and Kelly team with Jules Munshin in this enjoyable classic about three sailors who spend the day finding love and adventure in New York City. 98 minutes. With the theatrical trailer.

Anchors Aweigh (***) Gene and Frank are two sailors who spend their wartime leave in Hollywood. The film’s highlight: the famous dancing duet between Kelly and the animated Jerry of Tom and Jerry. 140 minutes.

Supplements include vintage interviews with MGM animation pioneers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, a segment of the MGM documentary When the Lion Roars, and three theatrical trailers.

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The other two Sinatra collections offer a sampling of his best films, some seen here in their DVD debuts.

* The Frank Sinatra Collec­tion: The Golden Years: Mar­riage on the Rocks, and in DVD debuts, The Man With the Golden Arm, None But the Brave, Some Come Running

* The Rat Pack Ultimate Collector’s Edition: Robin and the Seven Hoods, Ocean’s Eleven, 4 for Texas, and in a DVD debut, Sergeants 3

This collection offers the most bonus materials (check labels) and may prove the most popular.

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Sinatra The 1993 CBS TV miniseries starring Tina Sinatra and Phillip Casnoff also arrives this week on two discs. 240 minutes.

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Other films released or re-released this week featuring Frank Sinatra: The First Deadly Sin, High Society, Never So Few, Till the Clouds Roll By

Frank Sinatra starred as drummer, card shark and junkie Frankie Machine in Man With the Golden Arm (1956).