It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Edward Ludwig directed this B movie musical written by Harry Clork and Franz Spencer (aka Schulz) which stars Virginia Weidler (in lieu of Judy Garland) along with Leo Gorcey and a couple of other Dead End Kid/Bowery Boy types like dancing Ray McDonald and Larry Nunn (in lieu of Mickey Rooney).This light and airy MGM escape-fare even features a patriotic Busby Berkeley choreographed finale sung by ill-fated baritone Douglas McPhail (his last film). The cast is loaded with other recognizable faces including Rags Ragland, Sheldon Leonard, Henry O'Neill, Margaret Dumont, Our Gang's Darla Hood, and the prolific Charles Lane and Ian Wolfe (uncredited).'Snap' Collins (Gorcey) has just gotten out of the New York Penitentiary, later referred to as reform school, and is met by his friend Steve (McDonald). Shortly thereafter, they run into another friend Mike Conroy (Nunn), who's wearing Snap's old favorite suit; so he chases Mike into a building and up the stairs and the three of them end up in an apartment where they smell gas. Upon investigation, they discover Frank Eastman (O'Neill), who's just tried to kill himself because he couldn't go on any longer. After the 'boys' save his life, Eastman's daughter Patsy (Weidler) arrives and first assumes the boys were trying to rob her father. Mike had found and pocketed the suicide note before she could see it. However, the truth comes out - Eastman's musical compositions had been 'stolen' by show producer Arthur Cartwright (Lester Matthews), actually it was Cartwright's agent (Lane) who had taken them because of the producer's recent failures. Eastman couldn't go to the police, or take Cartwright to court, because he felt no one would believe him over the famous producer; Eastman had written them while serving his time in prison.Because Patsy is cute, the boys want to help her. They go to Cartwright's to try to get his music back, but are unsuccessful even though Steve impressed the producer with his dancing skills. In fact, Cartwright writes the boys a check and then calls the police to arrest them on blackmail charges. While being taken in, the boys find themselves in the same paddy wagon as the infamously corrupt cab company owner Pete Detroit (Leonard). Detroit's gang, which includes 'Grunt' (Ragland), turns over the paddy wagon and busts them all out of 'jail'. While hiding out in a former Nazi Bundist they discover, the boys learn they were identified in the escape, and meet 'Eight ball' (Ben Carter), a stereotypical Black character who's the custodian there. They decide to stay off the streets, but they also hatch a plan, with Patsy who they'd rescued from a welfare worker (Connie Gilchrist), to put on a show of her father's tunes before Cartwright, to prove that they were his in the first place, and that they'd been stolen.The boys proceed in hiring kids, including 'Quiz Kid' (Hood), off the streets for their production. When Patsy dressed in black-face and Eight ball visit Eastman in jail, he'd been accused of the same bogus blackmail charge, they learn that he no longer has a copy of his music. However, a talented youngster named Mozart (Richard Hall) with perfect pitch is able to copy down the stanzas while Patsy plays the songs on a harmonica. But Detroit catches up with them, it seems he's been implicated in the same blackmail scheme, and is about to take the boys in to explain that he's not involved before Patsy tells her sob story and wins him over. Detroit then decides to help, by supplying a singer within his employ, Murray Saunders (McPhail) for the show, making sure Cartwright's production is disrupted and his audience kidnapped and taken to the kids' show! Of course, their production (which is the last third of the film) is a big success, winning over Mrs. E. V. Lawson (Dumont) and a Broadway critic (Wolfe), who befuddle the police captain (Cy Kendall) when he stops the performance before the big finale. The show must go on; McPhail's rendition of the aforementioned flag- waving song ends the movie.

I agree with the previous comment. The film was quite entertaining. My sister and I laughed through much of it. It may not have been a Mickey and Judy "Let's put on a show!" but I think it was just as good. I only found one fault with it. The finale with Douglas McPhail was completely out of place. It just doesn't fit in this movie. McPhail had no other part in the movie except to sing this piece, which he was well chosen for (He has a nice baritone voice). It just didn't belong in this film. It brought down the light and fun atmosphere and made us long for the end. The better points were Virginia Weidler, Ray McDonald, Larry Nunn and Leo Gorcey. And of course the kid who played the piano; he's amazing! Weidler grew into a lovely young lady and it's a shame she's not in more of the movie. It's nice to see McDonald in a leading role instead of a sidekick. Larry Nunn was very funny as the kid obsessed with suits, he had some great lines on that subject. I especially enjoyed the number with McDonald and Weidler towards the end. It was stuck in my head long after seeing the film. Definitely recommended for a light comedy, but you might want to turn it off right before the finale.

It's been suggested that the ending of "Born to Sing" was some sort of jingoistic war- promoting effort spliced on the end of this film--and it certainly was badly spliced, especially since we are not shown its effect on the audience, which up until the end has been a living part of the film. It should be said, though, that the piece "Ballad for Americans" which concludes the film actually was written for a WPA Theatre production, "Sing for Your Supper," in 1939. This show, 18 months in rehearsal, brought about the end of WPA's "Federal Theatre Project" and never reached much of an audience."Ballad for Americans," though, was written by John Latouche and Earl Robinson, who later produced one of the best American operas, "The Ballad of Baby Doe." The "Ballad for Americans" was introduced on radio by Paul Robeson, who recorded it as did Bing Crosby, and both recordings were best-sellers. The piece was actually performed at the 1940 Republican AND American Communist Party Conventions, and remained in the repertoire through the 1960's. The piece seems rather dated and jingoistic today, though oddly enough it was considered pretty left-wing at the time! I've always had a soft spot for it, as did my high school choir director. The shouted/spoken parts of the piece were a popular device of the time, another practice that lingered through the 1960's in various guises. I think that its inclusion in the film was meant to show just what a fine composer the Virginia Weidler character's father (Henry O'Neill) was (although it stretches the imagine a bit to think that in a couple of evenings Virginia could play it out a few notes at a time on the harmonica and have it transposed by an eight-year-old kid ("Mozart"--Richard Hall) who has to draw his own staff paper.) Unfortunately, we don't know whether it did that or not, because the film ends abruptly at the end of the piece--almost as if the production had run out of money so everybody went home.Actually, I think it was pretty spiffily staged by Busby Berkeley, in a way that is reminiscent of his "Forgotten Man" number at Warner's and in a way that recalls the Deco/Moderne style of much of WPA art.It should also be noted that Joe Yule is featured in a (very) minor role here at a time when his son, Mickey Rooney (AKA Joe, Jr.), was MGM's biggest meal ticket.

"Born to Sing" (1942) could be summarized as "The Bowery Boys Put on One of Those Garland/Rooney Shows". Basically it is a "Bowery Boys" feature with a neighborhood talent show tacked onto the end. But this is not as bad as you might think. The boys are represented by Leo Gorcey; as a character named Snap Collins, pretty much his standard Slip Mahoney stuff. The budget is a bit larger so the technical production elements are better-the cinematography/lighting actually has a nice flare and the production design is quite good. But the best part is that the show is quite entertaining, at least until the super patriotic finale, out of place at best-drifting into pathetic several times, despite some slick staging and excellent use of lighting. This silly song features baritone Douglas McPhail who up to this point has looked totally embarrassed about appearing in the film. Overwrought as it is, the real problem is that it destroys the unity of the main production, which up to then had a lot of charm with the neighborhood children playing all the adult roles on the stage. Suddenly there is a group of actual adults inexplicably parading on stage like something out of "Triumph of the Will".This was Virginia Weidler's last real chance to go from child to adult star, she made a couple other films during the war but nothing that had this much potential. But the grown-up Weidler just didn't have much charisma. In fact, she gets completely upstaged by another teenage actress/singer Beverly Hudson who has a lot more energy and personality than Weidler. Hudson's big number is good enough to justify watching the entire film."Born to Sing's" premise revolves around Patsy Eastman (Weidler) and her father, a songwriter who wrote a show while in prison. Much like "House of Wax", a greedy promoter steals the material. Snap and his friends try to pressure the promoter but are charged with extortion. Fortunately they meet a gangster named Pete Detroit (Sheldon Leonard) who is sympathetic and helps them open their show before the promoter can premiere his; with Pete going so far as to use his fleet of taxicabs to ferry unsuspecting drama critics from the promoter's show to the kid's show. Watch for appearances by Darla Hood (Little Rascals) and Margaret Dumont (Marx Brothers). One notable scene for inclusion in "Blacks in Hollywood" has token black Eightball (Ben Carter) escorting Weidler (in black-face) to the jail to visit her father. They fool the guard by engaging in the extreme stereotypical behavior early audiences seemed to enjoy. Which makes the finale's attempt of rally all Americans (all races, faiths, and occupations) behind the war effort even more hollow.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.