Wonder Man1945

Here, Danny Kaye plays twin brothers, and after one is killed, he comes back as a ghost to help the other get revenge on the gangsters responsible. That sounds interesting. Actually, it could be the premise of a pretty good movie.  Unfortunately, the movie is not interested in that and is more interested in watching Kaye and associates doing full-length song and dance numbers and other nightclub bits. Which means it’s still a pretty good time, though not quite as advertised.  Now, on one hand, I love that kind of thing and wish movies nowadays could be set in classic nightclubs so we can have full-length song and dance numbers, but alas.  To me, it just doesn’t find a good balance between the plot and the musical numbers, and in fact, we don’t see ghost Danny Kaye for a solid chunk of the movie, which is really disappointing as it’s kind of the best part of the film.  I don’t know if Danny Kaye had the career he wanted, but I think he really could have done more “natural” acting work similar to his role in White Christmas. He has a charming sincerity to him, but most of his career seems to lean toward the more loud, boisterous side.  This is the kind of somewhat obscure classic comedy that I would have watched over and over again as a kid, and if I had, I’d probably like it more. As of right now, I think it’s decent, and I’ll probably even watch it again sometime, but I would drop everything to check it out.