It Happened in Brooklyn Reviews

A charming minor musical filmed in black and white, this tale stars Sinatra as a returning GI without a family who moves in with Durante, the janitor at New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn. Grayson is a teacher at the school and a singer. Neither she nor Sinatra has had success pounding the Manhattan pavement. While overseas, Sinatra had met Lawford, a priggish son of a wealthy British family. Now Lawford arrives in town with a song he has written, having been sent by his grandfather to Brooklyn to lose some of his stuffiness. With Sinatra and Grayson to help, the song is performed at the school. Lawford likes Grayson, which might cause a problem, since Sinatra also has some feeling for her, but any real danger is averted when Sinatra falls for Grahame, an Army nurse he met while in the service. The film ends with the two couples happily united. Very likely, nothing will cause you to think for an instant in this film. The songs are good and Sinatra delivers his lines well. New Utrecht High School really does exist and it was the spawning place for such talents as Phil Foster, Vic Damone, Jack Carter, Harvey Lembeck, and others. Besides the good songs, the background music was done by a diminutive, 17-year-old Andre Previn, who had just taken a job at the studio. Songs include: "Time After Time," "I Believe," "Brooklyn Bridge," "Whose Baby Are You?" "It's the Same Old Dream," "The Song's Gotta Come from the Heart" (Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn); "La Ci Darem La Mano" (from Don Giovanni, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart); "The Bell Song" (from Lakme, Leo Delibes); "Otchichornya" (traditional).