Movie Mirrors Index

With a Song in My Heart

(1952 c 117')

En: 6 Ed: 6

A successful singer has a husband who feels inferior. Her legs are injured in an accident, but she struggles to recover with help from a nurse and continues her career.

         Jane Froman (Susan Hayward) is honored at a dinner as the most courageous singer. Many years before that she is late for an audition. Don Ross (David Wayne) is rejected with his singing partner Harry Guild (Max Showalter), who quits working with Don. Jane sings “That Old Feeling” for Don, and the radio producer offers her commercials.

         Jane sings in a commercial and then in the program. Don gets her a show, and she sings “Hallelujah, Get Happy.” Don becomes her manager, and she gets $1,000 a week in Chicago. Don wants to marry her, but she puts him off. They go to New York.

         Jane sings “Blue Moon” and becomes the top singer on radio. Don calls on Jane, and she agrees to marry him. They go to Hollywood, and she sings in a show. They return to New York. Don writes a song, and she sings “One Kind of Loving.” Don feels inferior, and they quarrel. In a bar drunk Harry puts Don down because he thinks Jane is above him.

         During World War II Jane sings “With a Song in My Heart” and goes on a USO tour. On the plane co-pilot John Burn (Rory Calhoun) shows her how to use a “Mae West” life-jacket. Near Lisbon the plane crashes in the water. John and Jane are in a hospital, and Clancy (Thelma Ritter) nurses them. Jane has shattered legs, and a doctor says he may have to amputate one. John tells Jane that he is in love with her. Don comes in to take Jane home. Clancy goes with her.

         In a New York hospital Jane tells Clancy that she is in love with John. Jane has bone surgery. In her room Don plays piano for her show Artists and Models. Sister Marie (Una Merkel) is allowed to listen. Jane is carried on stage and is applauded. She needs many more medical treatments and suffers much pain. Clancy reprimands her for feeling self-pity.

         Before her show Don asks Jane to choose him or John. When John arrives, Don goes out to make a call. Jane tells John that she won’t see him anymore. Jane performs “Embraceable You” and has G.I. paratrooper (Robert Wagner) join her on stage. She sings “Tea for Two.”

         Jane goes back to Europe and entertains wounded troops. She sings “It’s a Good Day” and “They’re Either Too Old or Too Young.” The G.I. paratrooper has shell shock, and for him she sings “I’ll Walk Alone.”

         In New York tipsy Don calls John in Miami and encourages him to see Jane. In her last show for the troops they give her a cake, and she sings “America the Beautiful” and a medley of songs about cities and states.

         In the final scene at the banquet Jane sings “With a Song in My Heart.”

         In this musical biopic the singing dubbed by Jane Froman herself was the best-selling soundtrack of 1952. The story is accurate except that Jane stuttered from childhood, but not when she sang, and that prevented her from having a successful movie career. She had 39 operations and despite many infections never had a leg amputated.

Copyright © 2012 by Sanderson Beck

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