Wonder Man

This is the first Danny Kaye film I've seen and I feel in love with what a wonderfully talented person he is. This film is great fun to watch and if you're looking for something that is light, funny, romantic, enjoyable, and has a lovely plot with good effects, this is it. Kaye is a charming, sweet, and appealing character, and when his ghost twin enters his body whenever he feels like it, his performance is even funnier, especially the scene in the wings of the theatre where he makes farmyard noises into the telephone! Definitely recommended to anyone who loves Kaye's comedy, or simply wants an hour or two of entertaining fun!

A fanciful, light-hearted comedy with cheerful dance numbers and jolly jokes. This means that the movie was pretty much the polar opposite to what had been happening in the real world for the last ten years or so.

The visual and special effects were superb for their time - they're still quite successful - but this was about the only aspect in which the movie was innovative and progressive. The general subject matter (twins and twin-related confusion) is as classic as can be, going back all the way to Antiquity. Moreover, the movie's denouement rests on one of the great staples of comedy and farce, to wit a royally messed-up opera performance. (Still, the person who wrote the lines "Choo-Choo.. Laverne... is.. is.. is... Minnie Smith !" deserved a pay rise the size of China.)

Well worth a watch, although the colours may seem somewhat harsh and gaudy to the modern eye.

This has always been my favourite Danny Kaye movie, it sustains the humour and story up to the end pretty well. All of his films are a roller-coaster for me: helpless tearful laughter one second, grim pained winces next, and WM is no exception to this rule, even though I love it. Perhaps he only needed a little more ... discipline in his comedy routines, to know when to stop, maybe at the 3rd joke stopped sneeze in a row etc. Sylvia Fine could have been a bigger help in this regard of course. On the other hand maybe we should be grateful for what we've got, and anyway in the end who'd really have wanted him any other way?

It may seem a little rough for the charismatic Buzzy Bellew to get murdered and come back as a ghost seeking proxy justice through the intermediary of his mono-zygotic twin brother Edwin Dingle, both comically played by Kaye. But this was just after the War and people generally weren't too sensitive at that point and didn't normally morbidly dwell on Sam Goldwyn's Technicolor fantasies. And that's basically all there is to it, a fine cast make the most of a good script. The special effects are OK but Time has wreaked its usual havoc on the actual film itself, and technology has also ruined us in the intervening years.

Favorite bits: Kaye repeatedly asking Cuddles in the delicatessen for a pint of Prospect Park; Kaye pretending he was in a pet shop (not a theatre) over the phone to Virginia Mayo; the sudden change into an operatic tenor; hearing Richard Lane's voice scything through everything. Bad bits: the Goldwyn Girls' one scene - no wonder Mayo stood out! The gaps in the mortals' conversation for the ghost to speak his lines was also too apparent - but hey, I said that I love this film!

Danny Kaye (with a good deal of assistance from his wife Sylvia Fine, who wrote most of his musical numbers) was one of the finest musical comedians ever and is in fine form here in one of his best vehicles. He plays twin brothers and is quite manic at times. The special effects deservedly won an Oscar and the musical numbers are great! Especially the one during the opera. The Marx Brothers aside, opera has never been more fun! This film is a treat and is most happily recommended!

Wonder Man is the first film I've seen with Danny Kaye, and I enjoyed it. The humor is light, inoffensive, and Danny Kaye does it well. Besides Kaye, there were a few notable funny characters, such as the deli shop owner and the drunk at the bar. Well worth watching if you're in the mood for a happy and funny film.