Die Lachbombe

There is plenty of fun to be had in this uneven Danny Kaye entry, the sequence where he gives an excruciatingly complicated explanation of the espionage activities of a group of mittel-European spies with very similar names is a hoot, but it is the ballet parody of "The Polovstian Dances" that takes this film to the heights of film comedy.

I believe this sequence to be one of the three funniest sequences in cinema, along with the first half hour of Chaplin's "Modern Times" and "Daphne's", (Jack Lemmon's), engagement sequence from "Some Like It Hot". The fact that it is unavailable on DVD is as inexplicable as it is regrettable.

There is a scene in KNOCK ON WOOD in which Danny Kaye, trying to escape from the London police, finds himself backstage during an overly dramatic Russian ballet, and soon enough, is onstage, heavy-footedly trying to blend into the scene without being spotted by the police in the audience. The result is the single best spoof of ballet the live side of animation (with "Dance of the Hours" in FANTASIA being its cartoon match). I actually saw Danny Kaye do this routine onstage at the Palace Theatre in New York where, great though it was, the closeups provided by the movie camera make the film version even more hilarious. Kaye is one of the most underrated actors of all time. This movie shows his brilliance and range. His facial expressions are as brilliantly comic as Sid Caesar's, and the two of them leave the rest of the pack far behind. (Is Robin Williams a distant third?)

KNOCK ON WOOD is uneven. It's not the most perfectly realized Kaye film--that honor goes either to SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY or COURT JESTER. The latter, being a musical, maybe is the best. COURT JESTER is overall funnier than KNOCK ON WOOD, but no scene in it comes close to the ballet spoof.

Danny Kaye plays a ventriloquist caught up in mayhem in Melvin Frank's Academy Award-nominated "Knock on Wood". Admittedly, some of the material (i.e., the gender relations) is a little outdated, but the humor is as lovable as ever. Kaye does a number of his verbal puns, there are some zany gags with a car, and then there's one of the funniest ballet scenes ever. It goes to show why Kaye was one of the best comedians ever (although he did also have a serious side, appearing as a Holocaust survivor in a TV movie about a Nazi rally in Skokie).

Not one of the best comedies of all time, but enjoyable enough for its short run.

Was Mai Zetterling a babe or what?

This ranks right up there with Danny Kayes "The Court Jester" when it comes to funny. You really need to pay attention to the dialog, because there are so many neat little jokes to hear. Such as when Danny Kaye tries to talk to his agent on whether or not he is crazy or peculiar. I won't tell you how it goes but it's very cool the way his agent lets him know. Then there are so many little things going on in this movie that even though I've watched the movie a numerous amount of times it still seems to be a longer movie than it really is. There is just so much going on in the movie. This is a really good family movie where everyone will enjoy it.

This isn't quite in the class of The Court Jester, but it's better by far than most comedies. Kaye's character is one of those who gets caught up in intrigue without fully understanding just what's going on.

Spoilers follow: One really funny scene has Kaye's character hiding under a table, where those who are hunting him decide to sit down. One of them puts his hand on Kaye's knee, so he immediately puts his hand on that man's, so he'll think he's resting his hand on his own knee. Then the other (third) guy does the same thing with Kaye's other knee, and Kaye responds identically. Then, as the men talk, they start drumming their fingers on Kaye's knees, and he has to mimic their actions! Incredible work that probably involved a lot of retakes.

There's one wonderful running gag where Kaye and his girlfriend are trying to escape pursuit by cutting through a car caught in a traffic jam. Later, they do the same, and happen to crawl through the same car, with the same couple in it. This leads to a great last line toward the close of the picture.

You could do far worse than this one and still see a pretty good picture.