TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Voxitype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
TheLittleSongbird
As has been said, it does help to like Danny Kaye in order to enjoy the film. However, along with other great Kaye vehicles such as 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty', 'The Court Jester' and 'Hans Christian Andersen', those who didn't like him initially may find themselves converted.The weak link of 'The Kid from Brooklyn' is the songs, pleasant enough and not awful certainly but none of them really are among Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn's better songs, with most of them being pretty forgettable after a few days. "Pavlova" is a gem this said and a great example of Kaye's tongue-twisting/pattering genius.On the other hand, 'The Kid from Brooklyn' looks great, being beautifully shot in rich Technicolor and the costumes (especially Eve Arden's) are gorgeous. The script sparkles with wit and charm, also being devoid of the sentimentality that could mar some of Kaye's later work, and while some of the story is total nonsense you're just having so much fun and not having much care in the world to properly care.Kaye is in his element, delivering a performance that's both hilarious and endearing.He gets sterling support from his supporting cast. Whether in the glamour stakes like with Virginia Mayo and Vera Ellen, or in the snappy ones with Lionel Stander, Steve Cochran and especially sparkling Eve Arden. Fay Bainter is also along for the ride in less subdued form to usual (not a knock at all on the actress, just a comment on her usual roles).In conclusion, very good and up there with Kaye's best. 9/10 Bethany Cox
writers_reign
After a series of 'shorts' dating from the late thirties (thus before his breakout role on Broadway in 1941's Lady In The Dark) Danny Kaye was signed by Sam Goldwyn who built a series of musical-comedy films around him beginning with Up In Arms in 1944. The Kid From Brooklyn was a third outing and in my opinion it fell below the standard of UIA and it's successor Wonder Man. What TKFB does have is the brilliant Eve Arden and Walter Abel who, are, alas, offset by the lackluster Vera Ellen and the insipid Virginia Mayo. The plot - based on the Harold Lloyd vehicle The Milky Way - has Kaye as a milquetoast milkman who accidentally decks champion boxer Steve Cochran and is then hyped by Abel as Cochran's manager. Predictable.
Robert J. Maxwell
One of Danny Kaye's earlier effort and pretty funny, sometimes very funny. He's a shy, nervous milkman for Sunshine Dairies, anxious to please, and is drawn into a street fight with the Middleweight Champion of the World (Cochran) and his burly friend (Stander). Kaye is good at "ducking" and his opponents accidentally knock each other out.The incident reaches the press and there is a big uproar -- MILKMAN KAYOES CHAMP!!! Cochran's manager (Abel) is a nervous wreck, not at all helped by his girl friend (Arden) who keeps making acerbic wisecracks about the events.Abel decides that the best bet is to train Kaye as a boxer, set him up with a few rigged wins, then have him face Cochran for the championship and bet all their money on Cochran.Kaye fits in his usual cowardice, corniness, and a nonsense song about modern dance and ballet, but he also does a fine turn as a physical comic. Some of the gags could have been choreographed by Buster Keaton. His awkwardness in the ring has to be seen to be appreciated. There is a long scene at the training camp, when Lionel Stander is trying to teach Kaye the fundamentals of boxing. "Okay, lemme have it on the chin -- give it all you got," orders Stander. And Kaye minces in circles around him, pattering his shoulder with boxing gloves as if they were powder puffs and he were applying make up. And he does it at a frenzied pace -- giving it all he's got.There are a couple of musical numbers, eminently forgettable except for Vera Ellen's energy. There has never been a peppier dancer except Ann Miller, whose range was more limited. I kvell when I watch someone dance expertly. I took a dance class once and realized that my limit was that of a drunken circus clown. You know, you really must admire people who can do things you can't do at all. And dancers use skills as finely honed as those of professional athletes. They have to be in tip-top shape. Singers have to remember lyrics, but dancers memorize every single step they take, along with their postures and port de bras. My hat is off, as much as my balance.It's corny and colorful. The wardrobe seems made for a splashy Goldwyn musical comedy. So do the Goldwyn girls. I wonder what they had to do to get a job as a Goldwyn girl. Nothing that cost them any dignity, I hope.
Spikeopath
I agree with the other user comments here on this site that state it helps to like Danny Kaye in the first place, because the film offers nothing fresh and exciting outside of a love for musicals and Kaye's effervescent madcap malarkey. It's a perfect showcase for Kaye to let loose and he delivers smartly as the humble milkman mistakenly built up as a prize fighter of note who then proceeds to lose the grip on his ego. He is surrounded by very stoic actors and they all benefit from a tidy script and foot tapping tunes, and sure enough the laughs are dotted throughout the show, but it still feels like they plonked Danny Kaye on set and built a film around him.It's also of interest to note the back story of the film actually being a remake of Harold Lloyd's 1936 film The Milky Way, that is something that few people are aware of and great effort was made by the makers of The Kid From Brooklyn to distance themselves from the 36 film. So with that in mind it's hard to not view this film as merely a Kaye vehicle without much heart, and with that I say the film is entertaining enough without being close to being a really good Danny Kaye movie, 6/10.
