The Kid from Brooklyn ** (1946, Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran, Eve Arden, Walter Abel, Lionel Stander, Fay Bainter) – Classic Movie Review 11,160

Director Norman Z McLeod’s 1946 Technicolor musical The Kid from Brooklyn stars Danny Kaye as a mild milkman called Burleigh Sullivan who transforms into a punchy prize-fighter to impress pretty nightclub singer Polly Pringle (Virginia Mayo), in this sometimes strained but often amusing remake (with half a dozen songs) of Leo McCarey’s 1936 comedy The Milky Way with Harold Lloyd.

Drunken champion boxer Speed McFarlane (Steve Cochran) is flirting with Burleigh’s sister when Burleigh accidentally knocks him out. So Speed’s crooked manager decides to turn Burleigh into a fighter, and Burleigh challenges Speed for the title, not knowing his opponents have all been told to take a dive.

Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran, Eve Arden, Walter Abel, Lionel Stander, Fay Bainter and Clarence Kolb do their considerable best but it doesn’t match the original as it falls victim to an over-eagerness to please, with sloppy results.

Also in the cast are Victor Cutler, Charles Cane, Jerome Cowan, Don Wilson, Knox Manning, Johnny Downs and Kay Thompson, and the Goldwyn Girls.

It is adapted by Don Hartman and Melville Shavelson from a screenplay by Grover Jones, Frank Butler and Richard Connell, based on a play by Lynn Root and Harry Clork.

It is shot at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios, 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood.

Mayo’s character is named as Polly Pringle in the on-screen credits, but she is called Polly Martin in the movie.

The original play The Milky Way opened on Broadway in 1934 and flopped, running for only 63 performances. Harold Lloyd’s film version The Milky Way (1936) also flopped. But The Kid from Brooklyn was a hit.

The Kid from Brooklyn is directed by Norman Z McLeod, runs 113 minutes, is made by The Samuel Goldwyn Company and Trinity Productions, is released by RKO Radio Pictures (1946) (US) and RKO Radio Pictures (1946) (UK), is adapted by Don Hartman and Melville Shavelson from a screenplay by Grover Jones, Frank Butler and Richard Connell, based on a play by Lynn Root and Harry Clork, is shot in Technicolor by Gregg Toland, is produced by Samuel Goldwyn, is scored by Carmen Dragon, with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sammy Cahn.

Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn’s songs include You’re The Cause of It All, I Love An Old Fashioned Song, Hey! What’s Your Name?, Josie and The Sunflower Song.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,160

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