In the first film, Danny Kaye plays the dual roles of estranged "super-identical twins", the loud and zany Buster Dingle (AKA Buzzy Bellew), and the quiet, studious Edwin Dingle. Buster is witness to a murder by mob boss "Ten Grand" Jackson (played by Steve Cochran) and is in turn murdered by two killers hired by Jackson - Chimp and Torso.
Buster, who is now a ghost, supernaturally contacts brother Edwin and convinces him to pose as the deceased twin in order to bring his murderers to justice.
Mayo plays the love interest of Edwin, while Buster's girlfriend is played by Vera-Ellen. It seemed a bit odd to me to see Virginia Mayo receive billing over Vera-Ellen as the latter was, to my mind, the superior actress and entertainer.
In their second film, Kaye and Mayo are again joined by Vera-Ellen and Steve Cochran. The Kid from Brooklyn was a remake of a 1936 film starring Harold Lloyd - The Milky Way. Other than having musical numbers, Kaye's remake isn't very different than Lloyd's film. Lionel Stander plays the role of "Spider" Schultz in both versions of the movie.
In my opinion, The Milky Way is the funnier of the two.
The third film, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty is the best of the four films. It is,coincidentally the only one of the four to not co-star Steve Cochran. We also see a return of Fay Bainter who played socialite Mrs. E. Winthrop LeMoyne in The Kid from Brooklyn .
A Song Is Born was the least successful of the four. This was probably due to the fact that Danny Kaye did not perform a single musical number. This was odd, considering that "music" played such a central part of the film.
A Song Is Born was a remake of a film starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, Ball of Fire. Both versions feature Mary Field in the role of Miss Totten, the financial backer of the encyclopedia. The film is another example of the remake not living up to the original.
In a strange bit of Hollywood coincidences, Benny Goodman and a member of his quartet, Lionel Hampton played significant parts in A Song Is Born while drummer for the quartet, Gene Krupa was conspicuous by his absence from the movie. Krupa, however had been featured prominently in the Cooper/Stanwyck film.
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