Main Cast: Susan Hayward, Rory Calhoun, David Wayne, Thelma Ritter, Robert Wagner
Release Year: 1952
Country: US
Run Time: 117 minutes
Plot
With a Song in My Heart is the story of popular 1930s songstress Jane Froman, here portrayed by Susan Hayward. We first see Ms. Froman as a humble staff singer at a Cincinnati radio stations, but it doesn't take her long to rise to the uppermost rungs of network radio fame. Jane gratefully marries her agent (David Wayne), but soon both realize they're not truly in love. While touring with the USO during World War II, Jane is in a plane crash, which severely injures her. She nonetheless valiantly makes a professional comeback, and begins a relationship with the pilot (Rory Calhoun) who rescued her. Jane Froman herself provided the vocals for With a Song in My Heart, with Susan Hayward doing a topnotch miming job. Watch for Robert Wagner in his starmaking cameo as a shell-shocked GI. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Unashamedly tearjerking, With a Song in My Heart is also a little heavy on corn, but its manipulations are hard to resist. True, there are occasions when the dialogue gets to be a little much, but there also are any number of entertaining, snappy lines to help make up for this. And if the screenplay comes across as formulaic, it's repeating a formula that works -- as long as the cast and director take it at face value and believe in it. That's definitely the case here, with director Walter Lang never revealing that the work in question is anything less than top notch. The film's biggest asset, of course, is Susan Hayward's galvanizing performance. Hayward's Froman is a loveable hellcat, full of life even at her most morose and despondent; there's a crackle to everything Hayward does, which helps the film over many bumps. Jane Froman's own renditions of the songs also count for a great deal, particularly the title song and the pull-out-the-stops sentimental "Americana" medley. Add in a razor-sharp Thelma Ritter and a finely detailed David Wayne, not to mention an attention-grabbing Robert Wagner, wrap it in some gorgeous gowns, and you end up with an artificial but immensely enjoyable production. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Lyle Wheeler - Art Director, Joseph C. Wright - Art Director, Billy Daniel - Choreography, Charles LeMaire - Costume Designer, Walter Lang - Director, Nicole Saulnier - Editor, J. Watson Webb, Jr. - Editor, Claude Barrois - Editor, Alfred Newman - Composer (Music Score), Earle Hagen - Musical Direction/Supervision, Alfred Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Ben Nye, Sr. - Makeup, Georges Bouban - Makeup, Jean Penzer - Cinematographer, Leon Shamroy - Cinematographer, Lamar Trotti - Producer, Thomas K. Little - Set Designer, Walter Scott - Set Designer, Louis Le Barbenchon - Set Designer, Ray Kellogg - Special Effects, Fred Sersen - Special Effects, Lamar Trotti - Screenwriter, Jacques Lanzmann - Screenwriter
