Danny Boy ** (1941, Ann Todd, Wilfrid Lawson, Grant Tyler, John Warwick, David Farrar, Wylie Watson)– Classic Movie Review 13,037

The wildly over-sentimental 1941 wartime British musical drama film Danny Boy stars Ann Todd, Wilfrid Lawson, Grant Tyler, John Warwick, David Farrar, and Wylie Watson.

Director Oswald Mitchell’s 1941 wartime British film Danny Boy stars Ann Todd, Wilfrid Lawson, Grant Tyler, John Warwick, David Farrar, and Wylie Watson. It is now perhaps best viewed as a curiosity and relic of the era.

Director Oswald Mitchell remakes his 1934 version of Danny Boy with another endearing, if very soft-centred musical drama, with successful English chanteuse Jane (Ann Todd) leaving her work in the United States to join the British battle against the Nazis during the Blitz, and look for her violin-playing street-busker ex-husband Nick (John Warwick) and son Danny Boy (Grant Tyler), who have fallen on hard times.

Danny Boy is obviously heavy on the very dated, much faded schmaltz, but the drama and the music are arguably perhaps worth a tear or two for the nostalgic, non-cynically minded.

And the confident performances of a good cast show surprising conviction, belying the manipulative, mechanical nature of the enterprise. The star presence of long-term favourites Wilfrid Lawson as Newton and Wylie Watson as Fiddlesticks helps enjoyment considerably.

The cast are Ann Todd as Jane Kaye, David Farrar as Martin, Wilfrid Lawson as Newton, John Warwick as Nick Carter, Grant Tyler as Danny, Wylie Watson as Fiddlesticks, Tony Quinn as Maloney, Nora Gordon as Mrs Maloney, Pat Lennox as Manager, Albert Whelan as Scotty, Harry Herbert as Skinny, Mike Johnson as Customer in Café, Pat Lennox as Manager, Barbara Lott as secretary, and Percy Manchester as Vocalist.

Oswald Mitchell (1890 – April 27, 1949) directed several of the Old Mother Riley films.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,037

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