The Kid from Brooklyn (1946)

This is very much a vehicle for Danny Kaye, and I was never his greatest fan. That said, he does a decent job holding this together. When his sister "Susie" (Vera-Ellen) is facing some unwanted attention from Steve Cochran's boxer "Speed McFarlane", he floors the man. Next thing he knows, he is in the ring, professionally - and winning too. All of this initially impresses nightclub singer "Polly" (Virgina Mayo) but as his victories begin to go to his head, he becomes a bit of an ass. His slightly dodgy manager "Sloan" (Walter Abel) has an ultimate goal - a prize fight against "Speed" but can "Tiger" make the grade and keep his gal? Kaye is on good form, he delivers effortlessly and stylishly throughout. I thought the humour a little too predictable, but this light-hearted spoof on the boxing industry is at times still quite amusing. What let's it down most, isn't anything to do with the stars - it's the unremarkable musical sequences. Jule Styne and Sammy Khan were well off the best when they wrote the songs and neither Mayo nor Vera-Ellen did any of their own singing. The best song by a country mile isn't their's at all - but Sylvia Fine & Max Liebman's "Pavlova" - the only song delivered by Kaye, himself. The film is also rather long. The premiss is fun for some of this, but after a while wears a bit thin and as I, personally, didn't much care for the lead character's character, I started to feel just a little bit bored in the end.