Ein Alligator namens Daisy

Rank International made some pretty odd films in their time, and in this semi-comedy, semi-musical, they don't quite seem to know where this one is going. Donald Sinden plays a music shop assistant, Peter, who gets lumbered with Daisy the alligator on his trip home from holiday, during which time he has met Irish zoo employee Moira. Moira has a few musical numbers which seem a little misplaced. Back home is Peter's girlfriend, Vanessa (Diana Dors), obviously from a rich family (her overbearing father has a huge house), and his parents and grandfather (Stanley Holloway). There's also a dotty pet shop owner who 'talks' to animals by breathing down their noses, and several small or cameo parts for the likes of Frankie Howerd, Jimmy Edwards, Joan Hickson, and Gilbert Harding, plus an early showy role for Stephen Boyd in the last bit of the film. Daisy is sometimes a real alligator, and sometimes clearly not ... when she is real she does the usual things that animals do to disrupt people, before everything is fixed to everyone's advantage at the end.

A 1957 (yes, that's the correct date) J. Arthur Rank production with James Robertson Justice, Margaret Rutherford, Wilfred Hyde White; it has to be a smash comedy, right? Oh, it's just awful. It's a one gag film: watching people be shocked at the sight of a little alligator. Music is thrown in, most inappropriately and forgettably. Jeannie Carson is a lively dancer and competent singer. But what was she doing in this film? Diana Dors is here too, providing oh-so-daring shots for use in the previews. Her acting level is not bad, but she's in the film to provide someone to leer at. Well, one must do something beside groan during this film. The movie is being sold on VHS now by people on e-Bay. Spare yourself the expense and the waste of time. A comedy without a laugh. A musical without a memorable song or dance.

I suppose my viewing pleasure of this film is spoiled by the fact I had a neighbor who had all kinds of exotic pets. He called it Albert and occasionakky took it for an outside airing. I kepy at least 3 feet from Albert when I saw him outside.

In An Alligator Named Daisy aspiring songwriter Donald Sinden gets stuck with a female alligator named Daisy who's as tame as a dog providing it's not a Doberman. The alligator causes a lot of trouble between Sinden and his intended Diana Dors, but she does bring Sinden together with animal lover and zoo employee Jeanie Carson.

A lot of familiar British character players are in the spporting cast in roles that are suited to them. The cimax isa bit unreal. In real life a lot of the British uppercrust would have been fine dining for the reptiles.

One thing more. As Daisy is identified as being from Brazil originally she would be properly referred to as a caiman. But why quibble.

Amusing British comedy.

A sometimes amusing but ultimately not very essential comedy about Peter, a songwriter, who is left with an alligator. He meets Moira (the fiery red haired Jeannie Carson), who works at a zoo but is engaged to marry Vanessa (platinum blonde Marilyn Monroe like Diana Dors). Basically, Peter takes care of Daisy, who sometimes does not even look real. You get the very obvious reactions to the alligator, but this is a pretty bland comedy. It could have benefited from an increase in slapstick and more face time with Donald Sinden (who plays Peter) and Jeannie Carson. Not horrible, not unwatchable but not as good as many British comedies of the 50's. For lovers of the main actors only, otherwise you can skip it.

Peter Weston is engaged to Vanessa Colebrook, the daughter of a wealthy businessman. On a journey home on a steamer he meets an old sea hand who shares with him how his wife won't let him keep his pet Daisy anymore. Weston offers him a kind ear and the sailor takes him for a kind man. When Weston wakes up later in the journey he finds that the sailor has left Daisy in his care. The problem is that Daisy is a middle sized alligator. Whilst trying to throw the beast overboard, he meets Moira who helps him out. He is desperate to see her again and uses the alligator as an excuse – however keeping a girlfriend, an alligator and a fiancée are not all easy tasks to carry out simultaneously.

I was attracted to this film by the title as much as anything else. The film is amiable enough but doesn't seem to know what it wants to be – is it a musical or is it a comedy or is it a romance? The musical section has some nice moments but really lacks a push in terms of choreography. Also some of the songs are a little lacklustre. One of the better songs is sung in a garage and 6 red oil drums seem to sit immobile in the foreground – not used in any meaningful way, but just sitting there, seemed rather pointless to me. The comedy aspect is OK but it is rarely laugh out loud funny. It is good enough to keep you with a weird half-smile on your face for half the time but not much more than that. There are some nice touches but nothing that'll have you rolling – most of it involves an alligator being where you don't expect it to be.

The romance aspect didn't work for me because of the fact Weston was making woo at someone else while he was engaged to someone else. While Moira did her bit, I found Weston himself to be a bit stale and certainly not likeable enough to get past the whole cheating issue.

In that regard, the very young looking Donald Sinden was maybe not the best choice for the lead although he does alright in some bits he just needed more charisma. Carson is a bubbly redhead and brings her bits to life, by comparison Dors is very beautiful but a lot less fun to have onscreen. The support cast are all quite amusing and there are some (very brief) cameos near the end from Nicholas Parsons and Frankie Howerd. Daisy herself is quite wooden – or rather rubbery – for the whole film. For longer scenes where she is needed in the shot it is laughably evident that this thing has just been placed in position and left there!

Overall this is an average film that is worth seeing because it is quite charming in a very dated way. The main problem will be that it doesn't totally deliver on any one of the three genres that it tries to cover and ends up falling short of them all.