On the Double

Danny Kaye is an American private in 1943 who is pressed into posing as a British General in order to deceive the Nazis about a coming invasion. Kaye struts about in his British uniform, slapping his swagger stick on the furniture, getting mixed up about which eye his patch should cover, being captured by the Germans, escaping after a frenzied chase through a German night club, and winds up with Dana Wynter, the lovely widow of the real British General, in his arms.

Having recently attempted straight roles in 'Me and the Colonel' and 'The Five Pennies', Danny Kaye's film career was taking a back seat to his activities on stage and TV by the time he returned to comedy to make this, set back in 1944 when he had made his own film debut in the services comedy 'Up in Arms'. Paramount continued to lavish top notch production values (and two Oscar-winning cameramen) and an impressive supporting cast on this as they had on their Bob Hope films.

The tempo is unusually fast here for a Danny Kaye film, as you had learned to take it more easy with his films like "Me and the Colonel" and the very serious "Five Pennies", but apparently he agreed to return to professional hilarious farce again and with a vengeance. It's all British although there are a few Americans in it as well, but the relief of the film and what saves it is the lovely Dana Wynter, wife of the monstrous general he has to impersonate, who hated her husband and came back home just to divorce him, but found Danny Kasye instead as something of her husband's better alter ego.

The tempo is unusually fast here for a Danny Kaye film, as you had learned to take it more easy with his films like "Me and the Colonel" and the very serious "Five Pennies", but apparently he agreed to return to professional hilarious farce again and with a vengeance. It's all British although there are a few Americans in it as well, but the relief of the film and what saves it is the lovely Dana Wynter, wife of the monstrous general he has to impersonate, who hated her husband and came back home just to divorce him, but found Danny Kasye instead as something of her husband's better alter ego.

Danny Kaye is loose again – this time in a 1961 farce about espionage in World War II. The film is set in England and Berlin, and Kaye has another double role.

I stopped being a Danny Kaye fan several years ago which probably coincided with my teenage years. This came up on TV and I decided to give it a little time, as reviews were half decent.

Danny Kaye has to be one of the greatest of the giggle creators of all time. With instinct that is uncanny, he can unleash a torrent of laughter on either side of the ocean.

I was 14 and saw On The Double when it first came out and was impressed then by the regal beauty of Dana Wynter who was always playing Lady this or Mrs. that and always in the upper class of the United Kingdom.

I've been a big Danny Kaye fan from an early age. I've seen all of his movies, minus one or two.