A delightful comedy-fantasy showcasing the many talents of Danny Kaye in James Thurber's popular short-story, although it's interesting that the author didn't want it filmed and apparently hated Kaye in the lead.
And so what, says I! Yes, helmsman Norman Z MacLeod, perhaps worn down from his days as the director of the Marx Brothers in the 30's, does indulge his star a little too much by unnecessarily giving him two lengthy patter-songs which while highlighting his tongue- twisting and accent-mangling skills, nonetheless don't belong in the film and likewise our hero's pratfall goofiness is overdone too.
Nevertheless when, I suspect, Kaye sticks more to the script, there is some genuinely funny humour, often of the grown-up variety, like the scenes where Kaye's Mitty attempts to intercept the delivery of a corset (containing the Maguffin of the mysterious little black book listing Dutch art treasures pursued by a German criminal mastermind) to an unknown female with a suitably large and jealous husband, Virginia Mayo undressing to her slip after being out in the rain and the funny exchange where Mitty is convinced by evil psychologist Boris Karloff that he sees fully-dressed women instead in bathing-suits. Along the way, the movie gently satirises the then fashionably popular pulp-fiction magazine business, international women's fashion and of course various movie genres in Mitty's various day-dreams and it's in the latter that the film is most successful and funny.
The pleasing conclusion where Mitty finally comes out of his shell and bites back at everyone that's trodden over him in the past from his mother on down is slightly let down however by a pointless final scene where Mitty at last gets his overdue promotion, but I won't hold that against it. Kaye and Mayo, here teamed for the third of four movies, combine delightfully and are well backed by their supporting cast, especially Karloff spoofing his horror-movie past. Filmed in glowing Technicolour around contemporary post-war New York, (even if some of the location shots are clearly processed), this is a vibrant, funny feature from Hollywood's Golden Age.
And so what, says I! Yes, helmsman Norman Z MacLeod, perhaps worn down from his days as the director of the Marx Brothers in the 30's, does indulge his star a little too much by unnecessarily giving him two lengthy patter-songs which while highlighting his tongue- twisting and accent-mangling skills, nonetheless don't belong in the film and likewise our hero's pratfall goofiness is overdone too.
Nevertheless when, I suspect, Kaye sticks more to the script, there is some genuinely funny humour, often of the grown-up variety, like the scenes where Kaye's Mitty attempts to intercept the delivery of a corset (containing the Maguffin of the mysterious little black book listing Dutch art treasures pursued by a German criminal mastermind) to an unknown female with a suitably large and jealous husband, Virginia Mayo undressing to her slip after being out in the rain and the funny exchange where Mitty is convinced by evil psychologist Boris Karloff that he sees fully-dressed women instead in bathing-suits. Along the way, the movie gently satirises the then fashionably popular pulp-fiction magazine business, international women's fashion and of course various movie genres in Mitty's various day-dreams and it's in the latter that the film is most successful and funny.
The pleasing conclusion where Mitty finally comes out of his shell and bites back at everyone that's trodden over him in the past from his mother on down is slightly let down however by a pointless final scene where Mitty at last gets his overdue promotion, but I won't hold that against it. Kaye and Mayo, here teamed for the third of four movies, combine delightfully and are well backed by their supporting cast, especially Karloff spoofing his horror-movie past. Filmed in glowing Technicolour around contemporary post-war New York, (even if some of the location shots are clearly processed), this is a vibrant, funny feature from Hollywood's Golden Age.