Customer Reviews

Wonder Man [Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo]

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Mostly, I enjoy Danny Kaye. I consider him to be a close second as the funniest redhead in showbiz (do I even have to mention who the funniest one is?). He comes across as this warm and gentle guy with massive comedic and musical gifts who, perhaps, at times, had a penchant for too much mugging (but maybe his writers were to blame). He exhibited a flair for funny facial expressions and for introducing songs rife with glib, rapid-fire double speak and tongue twisters and was also a natural at physical comedy. With the success of his first starring role in the 1944 feature UP IN ARMS, the powers-that-be in Hollywood couldn't wait to throw Danny Kaye back into the public consciousness. So, a year later, Kaye's second feature film WONDER MAN was released.

Here's the outrageous plot: When carefree and popular nightclub performer Buster Dingle (Danny Kaye), whose stage name is Buzzy Bellew, is gunned down for having witnessed a murder, his ghost comes back and convinces his shy, bookish twin brother Edwin Dingle (also Danny Kaye) to pose as himself until things are set right.

But Edwin, who may have a photographic mind and may be able to write simultaneously with both hands, is a life long maladroit and needs all the help he can get in the unfamiliar world of savvy crooks and glitzy show business. And that help comes in the form of Buster's ghost as, often, events conspire to force Buster to take over Edwin's body to bail him out of a jam, with predictably zany results. Eventually, after some more farcical bits and several wacky musical numbers, the bad guy is nabbed and the girl is won over.

With sumptuous eye candy being provided by a game Virginia Mayo, who plays the lovely and wholesome librarian Ellen, and newbie Vera-Ellen, here making her film debut as club entertainer and Buzzy's fiancee Midge, the main draw here is still Danny Kaye. His wife Sylvia Fine, throughout Danny's career, has excelled in writing specialty lyrics and songs which ideally suited his talents for mimicry and double speak. She contributes here with "Bali Boogie" and adapts the Russian song "Otchi Tchorniya" to Danny Kaye's particular brand of musical mayhem. I'm not sure if she has anything to do with Kaye's uproarious skewering of opera near the end, although I would suspect...yeah.

In the course of his acting career, Danny Kaye's resume boasts less than 20 feature films. WONDER MAN falls somewhere just below his very best cinematic works. For my money, his two best pictures are THE COURT JESTER (1956) and THE FIVE PENNIES (1959). In fact, I consider THE INSPECTOR GENERAL (1949) and THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (1947) to be better than WONDER MAN. Here, Kaye mugs just a bit too often for my taste. I don't much care for his telephoned barnyard noises, and his "Palpably Inadequate Blues" routine in Prospect Park gratingly channels Jerry Lewis at his histrionical worst. Sadly, a good portion of the gags in this film is too broad and dated.

Now, with all that, I can still never quite bring myself to give a Danny Kaye film a rating below three stars, and I've seen just about all of 'em. I'll always feel that his potential was never fully tapped, but in other films and even in several scenes in this one, we get a glimpse of how entertaining and talented this man is. To quote several of the extras in this film: "What a guy." WONDER MAN, with its flaws, is still pretty diverting stuff and solidly delivers on what the audience expects, which is Danny Kaye unleashed. It's a good enough flick and merits three and a half stars.

This is not a review of the movie itself but of the quality of the print being offered. The movie is well worth owning and this seems to be the only "rare" edition available. However the print itself seems fair at best. Though the color is bright enough the shading tends toward the dark side, and the focus is a bit fuzzy. There are no extras - on my copy the film starts immediately with the menu at the end. When it says "digitally remastered" I consider that it has been cleaned up to a sparkling print. This has all the feel of a pirated copy to me, though I don't believe that is due to the sellers. It may indeed be legit but I must say I am disaapointed in the quality. I know some folks don't seem to mind the quality of materials on their DVDs as much as I might, but for those looking for a clean crisp print, this isn't it. Though it will have to do until whoever owns the licensing for it puts up a decent tribute to Danny Kaye and these Samuel Goldman films - which are wonders in themselves. Normally a five star movie - this edition gets three for lower quality.

This is one of my all time favorite movies and not easy to find. The music is lively and the antics are purely classic Kaye. This is a must see for anyone who loves musicals and comedy. There are some great character actors in this piece and ordering potato salad has never been so silly.

Along with THE KID FROM BROOKLYN, this is my favorite Danny Kaye film. Kaye is actually experiencing a mild resurgence among younger people these days because of the inclusion of the great song he did with the Andrews Sisters, "Civilization," in the soundtrack for the hugely successful game FALLOUT 3 (actually one of the best soundtracks of the past couple of years). There is no question that Kaye was a major, unique talent. Most of his films have not held up especially well. They are very much products of the sensibility of the times and don't feel as timeless as the best of the Marx Brothers or Astaire and Rogers. Over the course of a feature length film he can come across as somewhat over-the-top. He sometimes is more silly than funny. Nonetheless, at his best he can be hysterical.

This was the first of a string of films that Kaye made at Goldwyn, usually with Virginia Mayo as the female lead. He had the previous year been in UP IN ARMS with Dinah Shore and Dana Andrews in a supporting role, but he pretty much stole the movie with one of his more memorable patter songs. Not everything in this film works and the humor is often strained, but Kaye has so much charm and he throws himself into the film with so much energy that he overwhelms the weaknesses by sheer force of will. My biggest complaint with the film is that there weren't more musical numbers. "Bali Boogie" is so charming that you wish there had been two or three more like it. Instead, the film is limited to four musical numbers, one of them a surprisingly flat version of "Otchi Tchorniya" by Kay. "So in Love," however, with Vera-Ellen dancing (though as always her voice was dubbed) is nearly as much fun as "Bali Boogie." This was, by the way, Vera-Ellen's first movie. She is one of my favorite performers from the forties and fifties, an utterly delightful dancer possessed of remarkable girl-next-door beauty.

All in all this is a tremendously entertaining film, the kind of popular entertainment that Hollywood seemed capable of churning out in seemingly unending quantities in the forties. And it remains perhaps the presentation of Danny Kaye's unique abilities on film. Oh, and if you pay attention, the sailor in the park near the beginning of the film is played by Huntz Hall, at this point in his career formerly of the Dead End Kids, some of whom would join together to form the better known Bowery Boys, in which Hall would achieve renown as Sach.

this is a low quality encoding, there is no FBI warning like you would see on a store bought movie. early in the movie during a dance number there is so much blocking that it is hard to see the picture. if i had to guess, i would call it an in home low budget copy. love the movie, don't like the quality.

Wonder Man was and is one of my favorite movies. I had not seen it in years and there were some hysterical scenes I had forgotten. I laughed so hard I was practically crying (that doesn't happen often). Danny Kaye is the ultimate performer: dancer, singer, actor, comedian. Not too many movies these days you can watch with kids unless they are designed for kids (and even some of those are iffy). This movie combines clever dialogue without the vulgarity, has a good plot, musical components, humor, and some slapstick. The whole family will love it! With it's whimsical "ghosty" theme, it would be fun to watch at Halloween instead of the usual junk you see now-a-days. If you loved this movie, you will also love, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," also starring Danny Kaye.

This is a great old movie. One of the best from Danny Kaye. This movie will have you singing opera even if you hate opera. It will have the Danny Kaye twist, though. 5 stars and two thumbs up.

Danny Kaye has been a part of my life for more years then I wish to count. I love all of his movies, but WOnderman was one of his best. My son loves it,his childern sing all the songs and dance with Danny Kaye while he is on the screen yelling at Buster, his brother.
This is a great movie!!!!!!!!!!!!

For all of us Danny Kaye fans it's hard to get enough of this talented guy. So in this movie he does a dual role--Twins. Even with early split-screen technology the production is first rate, and the Danny Kaye is even better.

this DVD arrived quickly and without any defects. I would purchase from this seller again.