Io e il colonnello

This film was a wonderful vehicle for the talents of Danny Kaye who played a serious, dramatic role instead of the typical zany comedic parts he usually performed. Franz Werfel,a Jew who had to flee Nazi Germany, wrote the drama on which this film is based and used much humor(especially in the relationship between Jakobowsky and the Colonel) to take on a serious subject: anti-semitism in Europe during World War II.In order to do this, he had to create stereotypes, which is common in comedy.

A similar stereotyping is done in Mussorgsky's piano suite "Pictures at an Exhibition" in the part called "Samuel Goldenberg and Schmyl." However, instead of satirizing two Jews, Werfel was making fun of the differences between an anti-semitic Polish aristocrat and a bourgeois Jewish Pole who has the gift of being a survivor. Perhaps, because of this, the reception of the film has been cool. It has never been released on laser disc or DVD in the U.S. and is seldom seen on television. However, it is available in Germany on DVD in anamorphic 16x9 format, PAL Region 2 encoding.

In Me And The Colonel Danny Kaye's career took a dramatic turn as he stars in the movie version of the play Jacobowsky And The Colonel which was an autobiographical work of refugee writer Franz Werfel. It was also Werfel's last work as he died in 1945 as the play was running on Broadway. Werfel when fleeing France and the onrushing Nazi occupation traveled the same route from Paris to southern France and I'm sure his real life experiences verbatim would make an interesting story.

The play starred another refugee Oscar Karlweis as the philosophical Jewish refugee Jacobowsky and Louis Calhern as the stiff necked Polish colonel who among other things is anti-Semitic, so typical of his class in those days. On screen the colonel is played by CurtJurgens and he has a mission, to get to the United Kingdom and give the new Polish in exile government a list of contacts. Naturally the Nazis want to get their hands on him and the list. The colonel wants to also get his French wife Nicole Maurey out of France as well and his orderly Akim Tamiroff.

The film is their journey through France along the same path Werfel took to get out of Europe. In Jurgens mind Kaye is annoying Jew, but he gradually learns to both respect Kaye's resourcefulness and see a Jewish person as a human being. All too human as Maurey also starts to develop feelings for him.

For this role Kaye dropped a whole lot of his usual shtick and his performance is simple and restrained. The humor and there is a bit there is of the whimsical and ironical kind. He does it well. Two other performances of note are that of Alexander Scourby as the Nazi colonel who also has designs on Maurey and Martita Hunt as a helpful, make that very helpful Mother Superior of a convent.

For a different and refreshing Danny Kaye I highly recommend Me And The Colonel.

I must say, Danny Kaye delivers a very skilful and thoughtful performance as Jacobowsky, and Curt Jurgens is hilarious in his over-the-top display of pompous honor as the military Colonel. In the dangerous and harrowing era of the war it's surprising that any degree of humor could be found in stark situations, but this story does so, and does it well. At times it's downright funny, other times it's delightfully witty, turning life's awkward moments into amusing vignettes. Yet shining throughout is the quality of Kaye's sympathetic character who draws on the inherited wisdom of his people to help him meet one difficulty after another. An excellent story indeed. Thank goodness human nature can still find humor even in life's most dire moments.

The basic prize for the viewer is the acting. Then the humor. Not the last, the gentle romance. A story of war and survive, seductive for the clash between characters, for the birth of a sort of comradery and for something remaining great for wise manner to use sentimental nuances.

We all know he's a knockout comedian, but this movie really comes to prove how versatile Danny Kaye is. At first I was doubting whether it would be amusing because I was not laughing, but then his performance left me teary eyed. Just one thing-it would have been much better to see his gorgeous orange hair in color. But no complaints! This is a wonderful movie that should be better known!