I HATED this movie! It was one of the most painful, nerve-grating "comedies" I've ever watched. I normally like Danny Kaye, but this movie was like fingernails on a blackboard.
The story: Nightclub comedian Buzzy Bellew (Danny Kaye) is murdered by gangsters after witnessing a murder committed by their boss, Ten Grand Jackson (Steve Cochran). The spirit of Buzzy contacts his twin brother, Edwin Pringle (also played by Kaye), a stuffy bookworm, and asks him to testify before the D.A. in Buzzy's place. Buzzy can possess Edwin's body when he wants to, and make him act like an idiot. The situation causes all sorts of complications with Edwin's girlfriend (Virginia Mayo) and Buzzy's fiancé (Vera-Ellen).
The main problem is, Danny Kaye spends too much time trying to be funny by acting funny. Seeing someone act funny is not funny, unless the people around them are also funny. (This is why the Marx Brothers were funny. They were surrounded by stuffed shirts and pompous characters like Margaret Dumont. You could see who the Marx Brothers were skewering with their humor.)
Characters who act funny when normal characters are around are NOT FUNNY! They are just annoying!
Take the scene where the spirit of Buzzy possesses Edwin for the first time. They are in a park, and what does Buzzy immediately do? He makes Edwin jump around like a crazy man, in front of a cop! An interesting tactic, since Buzzy is supposedly counting on Edwin to avenge his murder by testifying against a gangster. You'd think the last thing he'd want Edwin to do is end up in jail!
Danny Kaye is not funny in this scene! He is trying to be funny by acting funny! But of course, that just ends up being annoying and painful to watch! (You wonder why the cop, who has a billy club, doesn't just whack Danny over the head and cart him off to the funny farm.)
From there on, Buzzy possesses Edwin only when he wants to -- not when Edwin needs him to. One of the most painful scenes in the movie comes when Edwin is called to testify in the D.A.'s office about the murder that Buzzy witnessed. Edwin sits there pleading out loud for Buzzy to possess him, so he can tell the D.A. about the murder, while the D.A. and his men look on, bewildered. Does Buzzy show up and possess Edwin? Of course not! And Edwin is humiliated.
Later, we find out the reason why Buzzy didn't show up. He had a hangover from drinking too much champagne in a nightclub the previous night, while he was possessing Edwin's body.
Would someone please explain this to me. HOW IN THE NAME OF JACOB MARLEY CAN A GHOST GET A HANGOVER, OR EVEN GET DRUNK, AS BUZZY DOES?
Kaye's character has a grating habit of only half-explaining things to people. There's a scene where Edwin, on the run from gangsters, ducks into a delicatessen owned by S.K. Sazall.
"The men in black are after me," Edwin tells Sazall. Of course, Sazall thinks he's crazy, and they go through this whole annoying scene of turning the lights in the deli shop on and off, which alerts the gangsters to their presence.
All Edwin has to say in this scene is "Gangsters with guns are after me. Be quiet and keep the lights out or we'll both get killed."
But that would be too easy, too logical a solution to the problem. Instead, they try to be funny, and end up being annoying again.
There are other annoying characters in the movie. There is a gangster who wears a hearing aid. He keeps asking people, "What'd you say?" Or "What did she say?" But according to his partner, the gangster is only pretending to be deaf and doesn't really need the hearing aid.
WHY? Why would a gangster pretend he needed a hearing aid? Answer: It is just another way that the movie tries to get cheap laughs but doesn't.
The Oscar-winning special effects are good for their time, but lend nothing to the story.
There is ONE good thing in this movie. Vera-Ellen does a tap dance number with the Goldwyn Girls that is AMAZING to watch. Vera-Ellen was an incredible dancer, and it's too bad she didn't achieve greater stardom in her career.
Except for the Vera-Ellen dance number, I would skip this movie, unless you like having your nerves twisted watching people who are not funny trying to be funny.
The story: Nightclub comedian Buzzy Bellew (Danny Kaye) is murdered by gangsters after witnessing a murder committed by their boss, Ten Grand Jackson (Steve Cochran). The spirit of Buzzy contacts his twin brother, Edwin Pringle (also played by Kaye), a stuffy bookworm, and asks him to testify before the D.A. in Buzzy's place. Buzzy can possess Edwin's body when he wants to, and make him act like an idiot. The situation causes all sorts of complications with Edwin's girlfriend (Virginia Mayo) and Buzzy's fiancé (Vera-Ellen).
The main problem is, Danny Kaye spends too much time trying to be funny by acting funny. Seeing someone act funny is not funny, unless the people around them are also funny. (This is why the Marx Brothers were funny. They were surrounded by stuffed shirts and pompous characters like Margaret Dumont. You could see who the Marx Brothers were skewering with their humor.)
Characters who act funny when normal characters are around are NOT FUNNY! They are just annoying!
Take the scene where the spirit of Buzzy possesses Edwin for the first time. They are in a park, and what does Buzzy immediately do? He makes Edwin jump around like a crazy man, in front of a cop! An interesting tactic, since Buzzy is supposedly counting on Edwin to avenge his murder by testifying against a gangster. You'd think the last thing he'd want Edwin to do is end up in jail!
Danny Kaye is not funny in this scene! He is trying to be funny by acting funny! But of course, that just ends up being annoying and painful to watch! (You wonder why the cop, who has a billy club, doesn't just whack Danny over the head and cart him off to the funny farm.)
From there on, Buzzy possesses Edwin only when he wants to -- not when Edwin needs him to. One of the most painful scenes in the movie comes when Edwin is called to testify in the D.A.'s office about the murder that Buzzy witnessed. Edwin sits there pleading out loud for Buzzy to possess him, so he can tell the D.A. about the murder, while the D.A. and his men look on, bewildered. Does Buzzy show up and possess Edwin? Of course not! And Edwin is humiliated.
Later, we find out the reason why Buzzy didn't show up. He had a hangover from drinking too much champagne in a nightclub the previous night, while he was possessing Edwin's body.
Would someone please explain this to me. HOW IN THE NAME OF JACOB MARLEY CAN A GHOST GET A HANGOVER, OR EVEN GET DRUNK, AS BUZZY DOES?
Kaye's character has a grating habit of only half-explaining things to people. There's a scene where Edwin, on the run from gangsters, ducks into a delicatessen owned by S.K. Sazall.
"The men in black are after me," Edwin tells Sazall. Of course, Sazall thinks he's crazy, and they go through this whole annoying scene of turning the lights in the deli shop on and off, which alerts the gangsters to their presence.
All Edwin has to say in this scene is "Gangsters with guns are after me. Be quiet and keep the lights out or we'll both get killed."
But that would be too easy, too logical a solution to the problem. Instead, they try to be funny, and end up being annoying again.
There are other annoying characters in the movie. There is a gangster who wears a hearing aid. He keeps asking people, "What'd you say?" Or "What did she say?" But according to his partner, the gangster is only pretending to be deaf and doesn't really need the hearing aid.
WHY? Why would a gangster pretend he needed a hearing aid? Answer: It is just another way that the movie tries to get cheap laughs but doesn't.
The Oscar-winning special effects are good for their time, but lend nothing to the story.
There is ONE good thing in this movie. Vera-Ellen does a tap dance number with the Goldwyn Girls that is AMAZING to watch. Vera-Ellen was an incredible dancer, and it's too bad she didn't achieve greater stardom in her career.
Except for the Vera-Ellen dance number, I would skip this movie, unless you like having your nerves twisted watching people who are not funny trying to be funny.