I am a fan of Danny Kaye and have been a long time tracking down this, one of his first starring features. Sad to say it wasn't really worth the wait. The constituent ingredients are there, a fine supporting cast of Virginia Mayo, Vera Ellen and Lionel Stander, Marx Brothers director Norman Z MacLeod at the helm, the filming is in glorious colour, the songs by Jules Styne and Sammy Cahn, even the story of Kaye's 98 pound weakling being set up for a world title fight based on his ability to avoid rather than actually throw a punch all augured well.
Somehow though it doesn't come together. At 1 hour 50 minutes it's way too long and you can see the padding, the songs are mediocre and even Kaye himself becomes somewhat irritating in his puffed-up swell mode.
I also don't think I've seen such an odd and prepossessing start to a feature as the Goldwyn Girls singing an advertising ditty around a full-grown cow and it doesn't really get much better from there. Sure, Danny boy clowns and mugs his way through the film but you can almost see him being directed in this, which can't be a god thing. Vera Ellen comes off better with her elfin appearance and dancing exuberance, Virginia Mayo can't do much with her part of the pretty singer who in rather unlikely fashion falls for Kaye's clutzy character but Walter Abel and Eve Arden make a good team as the manager on the make and his acid-tongued P.A. The comedy mainly centres on Kaye's antics in the boxing ring but I've seen funnier skits in silent movies on the same subject.
The same team of Kaye, Mayo and Macleod would soon reunite for Kaye's next feature, the classic "Secret Life Of Walter Mitty". Let's just say that with this inconsistent film they were sparring for the main event further down the line.
Somehow though it doesn't come together. At 1 hour 50 minutes it's way too long and you can see the padding, the songs are mediocre and even Kaye himself becomes somewhat irritating in his puffed-up swell mode.
I also don't think I've seen such an odd and prepossessing start to a feature as the Goldwyn Girls singing an advertising ditty around a full-grown cow and it doesn't really get much better from there. Sure, Danny boy clowns and mugs his way through the film but you can almost see him being directed in this, which can't be a god thing. Vera Ellen comes off better with her elfin appearance and dancing exuberance, Virginia Mayo can't do much with her part of the pretty singer who in rather unlikely fashion falls for Kaye's clutzy character but Walter Abel and Eve Arden make a good team as the manager on the make and his acid-tongued P.A. The comedy mainly centres on Kaye's antics in the boxing ring but I've seen funnier skits in silent movies on the same subject.
The same team of Kaye, Mayo and Macleod would soon reunite for Kaye's next feature, the classic "Secret Life Of Walter Mitty". Let's just say that with this inconsistent film they were sparring for the main event further down the line.