Millionnaire de cinq sous

... but I could never see the movie yet. Still, it partly saved my life when I was dying of a very bad pneumonia and was floating in between the two worlds. I didn't yet understand English, but the soundtrack of The Five Pennies played on the vinyl record (don't ask me how my Finnish parents got to possess it) went through my conscience and kept me on the living side. I can still sing one voice of the lullaby hearing Danny Kaye and Louis Armstrong singing the other voices in my head. I'm lucky to be able to hear them without any technical device.

Now, by a coincidence I fall on this movie I never saw - so important in my life - on VHS / NTSC in Amazon. I live in Europe... No way being able to see it. Do you really mean that there's no DVD of it yet ? I seem to be not the only one wishing for it.

When I was growing up Danny Kaye was a huge figure.All over the radio,on records TV and the movies,you couldn't escape from his face or voice. He made successful tours of top rate theatrical venues in the uk,he could sing,dance,act,write comedy routines and song lyrics.His stage act was an explosion of energy and sheer talent.He was-in the ludicrously overused sense of the term-a superstar. In "The Five Pennies" we catch him at the height of his powers as an actor,singer and lyricist(to his wife Sylvia Fine's enchanting tunes) With a strong guest appearance by arguably the finest jazz musician who ever lived and some really clever songs(The Five Pennies,Lullaby in Ragtime and Goodnight all use the same chord sequence). It was a success de cash rather than a success d'estime like most of Kaye's movies,and perhaps that's why his work is largely neglected in critical circles today. As Gloria Swanson said in "Sunset Boulevard,"I'm still big,the movies got smaller"

The Five Pennies Danny Kaye plays Red Nichols, a famous coronet player of yesteryear. I found this story a notch better "fair" and nicely aided by the musical talent of Louis Armstrong. Kaye and Armstrong's duet on "When The Saints Go Marching In" is the highlight of the film.

For a classic movie, the stereo in here is amazing, especially on the songs. In one instance, there are three people singing and their voices all coming out separately on different speakers. Pretty good for just the tape. Now that a DVD has been released, I wonder what the sound on that is like?

The story starts to lag a bit near the end when Kaye starts to feel sorry for himself and this goes on and on as he retires from playing. However, there is a nice, sentimental upbeat ending.

Notes: Kaye and Barbara Bel Geddes, who plays Red's wife "Bobbie," never age in the film even though it spans 15 or more years! It's interesting to see Tuesday Weld as a teenager.

I'm 15 years old and when I saw this movie for the first time about a year ago, I feel in love with it. It is the perfect combo of comedy, romance, and drama. I am a writer and I always add a little of all of those emotions into my stories because it makes it more believeable and realistic as well as more touching. I am now a Danny Kaye fan. He is a wonderful actor and singer. Whenever I see him on while flipping the channels, I will stop and watch. I am also now a fan of classic films of the 1930s and beyond.

This is the sentimental biography of the life of Ernest Loring (Red) Nichols, a trumpeter/band leader during the 1930's. Danny Kaye does a great job playing Red and Barbara Belgeddes plays his wife, Bobbie. Tuesday Weld plays his daughter, Dorothy. The movie follows Red through his career as a great jazz trumpeter who gives up music for family. A must see for Danny Kaye and Big Band fans. Some of the members of Red's "Five Pennies", as his band was known, were Glenn Miller and Jimmy Dorsey. Louis Armstrong puts on a stellar musical performance as himself. Red Nichols does the trumpet solos. Great music, good family viewing.