With a Song in My Heart

Some of the finest song standards ever written turn up in this fine Technicolor wallow, purportedly the true, tragic (but inspiring) life story of singer Jane Froman who rose from radio commercials to universal acclaim in the 1930s, but was then badly injured in a wartime plane crash. It's Froman's voice on the soundtrack, and lip-synching the vocals with credible conviction is Susan Hayward, usually better known for glamorous dramatics and here displaying character-steel as only she can, earning a best actress Oscar nomination in the process. An Oscar did go to brilliant musical director Alfred Newman, and mention should also be made of the notable star-making performance from a very young Robert Wagner as a shell-shocked soldier. An immensely popular movie, finely performed and intelligently crafted, and typical of the 20th Century-Fox period biopic at its professional best.