Danny Kaye in one of his funniest films. I saw this first in 1948 along with Wonder Man. The Technicolor is beautiful. The comedy infectious. The interplay between the characters superb. Vera-Ellen dances energetically while the lovely Virginia Mayo never disappoints. I am reminded of so many other great American musicals where colour, dance, great songs all combined to a visual masterpiece. This film is an uncomplicated delight. And not a vulgar word said Would that more films were made like this. It never dates. Enjoy!

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.

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.

Everyone in THE KID FROM BROOKLYN is at their best--thanks to a zestful comedy based on "The Milky Way" with Harold Lloyd, only this time the timid milkman is DANNY KAYE, who goes from lovable, funny Kaye to totally extroverted Kaye who thinks he really won all those fights that he was signed up for by crooked manager WALTER ABEL.VIRGINIA MAYO, looking her most luscious in Technicolor, is Kaye's partner again and the great supporting cast includes VERA-ELLEN (as Kaye's dancing sister), EVE ARDEN, LIONEL STANDER and STEVE COCHRAN, who steps away from his usual serious role (as a heavy) to show that he had a flair for slapstick comedy.The story is nonsense, of course, and even the usually repressed FAY BAINTER gets into the spirit of things as a woman Kaye teaches some boxing pointers to. It's all very lightweight, easy to take and pleasant to watch, especially if you enjoy Kaye's special brand of comedy. Included are some specialty numbers for Vera-Ellen, surrounded by chorus boys and The Goldwyn Girls and a nice song number for Virginia Mayo, all emphasizing some dazzling Technicolor hues.Kaye does only one of his tongue-twisting routines, but it's a gem--a Russian number called "Pavlova" written for him by Sylvia Fine, his wife.Summing up: Light-hearted entertainment impossible to dislike and all of it is photographed in gorgeous Technicolor.