On the Double [Blu-ray]

Danny Kaye does double duty
After the success of his dramatic turn in "The Five Pennies", Danny Kaye returned to comedy at the tail end of his film career. Fortunately, "On The Double" is probably his last great film, a jaunty WWII intrigue-filled farce about a timid American soldier (Kaye) tapped by the military to serve as a decoy for a famous British Colonel (who's targeted for death by the Nazis) after it's discovered he's a dead ringer for the man. From there, poor Kaye fumbles through his role as the stakes get higher, involving himself in the Colonel's personal entanglements with his lovely but underappreciated wife (Dana Wynter) and amorous chauffeur (Diana Dors). As with Kaye's best films, this one relies on his special gifts for dialect, wordplay & rubber-faced timing. Just watch Kaye as he does his stuff in such hilarious comedy pieces as a military innoculation ceremony; a "dignified" ballroom complete with lost contact lenses, a wild Scottish dance, and food fight; and a climactic gag marathon of...

Searched 15 years for this movie!!!
On The Double, Wonderman and Court Jester are my 3 top favorites for Danny Kaye's hilarious comedy. I had a VHS taped version of On The Double from the television that was about 20 years old (low quality and full of commercials and cutoff about halfway) so I am very pleased to get the DVD version. The only things that would make the DVD release better is special features but I'm not complaining. Danny Kaye at his best! Look into his other films such as Five Pennies and White Christmas. Great, clean entertainment for the whole family.

Lunacy At Its Finest
On The Double

Danny Kaye had a long and varied career as an actor, singer, and dancer with stops on the Broadway stage (Lady In The Dark, Let's Face It), radio and television circuit, and Hollywood film (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Court Jester). At one point, he had his own TV show, The Danny Kaye show, airing on CBS from 1963 to 1967 that won both Emmy and Peabody awards. He could perform songs with tongue twisting lyrics, many of which were written by his wife; his movie roles often contained plots featuring body doubles and cases of mistaken identity that induce gut busting laughter. The film under review, On The Double, is one of these.

Kaye plays an enlisted military man with such a gift for impersonation, he's entered into a secret program to impersonate General Laurence McKenzie Smith, who we're told is busy planning the D-Day invasion. Part of Kaye's comedy is his ability to deliver long lines in one breath: "How many times have I told you...

Click to Editorial Reviews