A Song Is Born must be considered a stand-alone film--both Danny Kaye and frequent costar Virginia Mayo deliver topnotch musical-comedic-dramatic performances. The story centers on a group of anachronistic music academics who become involved with a nightclub singer (Mayo), who they hope will teach them about contemporary music, but who also happens to be the moll of a well-known gangster (another Kaye-Mayo costar, Steve Cochran).
This time around, Hawks makes full use of Technicolor (Ball was in black and white), and the richness of the film is a nice complement to the fun story and the great soundtrack. For the music fan--especially given the swing revival--there's plenty of eye candy, including Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnett, and Mel Powell. --N.F. Mendoza
