Main Cast: Danny Kaye, Mai Zetterling, Torin Thatcher, David Burns, Leon Askin
Release Year: 1954
Country: US
Run Time: 103 minutes
Plot
With the exception of the brilliant The Court Jester, Knock on Wood must rank as the best of Danny Kaye's movie vehicles. Capitalizing on the star's recent successful engagement in London, the film casts Kaye as a neurotic American ventriloquist performing in England and Europe. In a parody of the 1946 thriller Dead of Night, Kaye is unable to control the words coming out of his dummy, resulting in a near-nervous breakdown. On the advice of his manager (David Burns), Kaye seeks out the help of a psychiatrist, who turns out to be beautiful Mai Zetterling. But first, he heads to a local repair shop to pick up one of his dummies. What Kaye doesn't know is that a set of stolen blueprints for a top-secret weapon have been secreted into his dummy's head. Before he knows what's happening, our hero is up to his ears in spies, counterspies, and corpses. Falsely accused of murder, Kaye spends the rest of the film adopting one disguise after another to elude both the authorities and the various enemy agents roaming about. Filled to overflowing with musical and comedy highlights, Knock on Wood includes the famous "under the table" bit wherein Kaye finds himself literally between two warring spy factions, and a climactic ballet sequence reminiscent of (and superior to) the comic-opera finale of Kaye's Wonder Man (1945). And of course, the audience is treated to the tongue-twisting patter songs written for Kaye by his wife Sylvia Fine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
One of Danny Kaye's most enjoyable vehicles, Knock on Wood would be an even better picture if it were slightly more consistent. As with many comedies of this type, Wood is essentially a premise upon which a number of gags, routines and situations have been hung. A couple of these don't pay off, which combined with the film's needing about fifteen minutes to find its footing, keeps Wood from being absolutely first rate on the whole. But it's still undeniably hood fun, and when it hits its high points it really and truly soars. Chief among those high points is the hilarious, can't-miss ballet sequence (choreographed to a fare-thee-well by Michael Kidd), which certainly takes full advantage of Kaye's unique physical talents in numerous ways. There's also one of his patented tongue-twisting patter songs, this one telling the tale of one Irishman by the name of "Monahan O'Han," that scores a bull's eye, and a marvelous under-the-table sequence that demonstrates the comedian's skillful timing. As an added treat, there's an obscure but quite lovely little ballad called "All About You" that sticks in the head long after viewing. Throw in a young and quite beautiful Mai Zetterling and some solid comic support, and Wood emerges an engagingly fun, if very silly, way to pass the time. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Abner Biberman - Papinek; Gavin Gordon - Car Salesman; Otto Waldis - Brodnik; Steven Geray - Dr. Kreuger; Diana Adams - Princess; Patricia Denise - Mama Morgan; Virginia Huston - Audrey; Paul England - Chief Inspector Wilton; Johnstone White - Langston's Secretary; Henry Brandon - 2nd Trenchcoat Man; Lewis Martin - Inspector Cranford; John Alderson - Bobby; Genevieve Aumont - Airline Stewardess; Helen Chapman - Zelda; Noel Drayton - Little Man; Rex Evans - Customer; Winifred Harris - English Woman; Kenneth Hunter - Old Man; Donald Lawton - French Stage Manager; Alphonse Martell - Policeman; Carl Milletaire - 1st Trenchcoat Man; Christopher Olsen - Danny Jr; Phil Tully - Irishman; Philip Van Zandt - Brutchik; Eric Wilton - Doorman; Helen Dickson - Woman in Shower
Jerry Morgan (Kaye) is a ventriloquist who is having trouble with love: just when his relationship with a woman gets around to marriage, his dummy turns jealous and spoils everything. Jerry's manager threatens to quit unless Jerry sees a psychiatrist, Ilse Nordstrom (Zetterling), who tries to discover the source of his problem. The two of them eventually fall in love.
At the same time, Jerry becomes unwittingly intertwined with spies and has to run from the police. In his escape, he finds himself impersonating a British car salesman, trying to demonstrate a new convertible with loads of bells and whistles. Later on, he finds himself on stage in the middle of the performance of an exotic ballet.
DVD release
Knock on Wood was issued as a region 2 DVD in March 2009, and is on sale through Amazon UK.
As in Kaye's later film The Court Jester (likewise written and directed by Frank and Panama), the dialogue includes linguistic play, here involving particularly the names of the dummies ("Clarence" and Terrence") and the Slavic names of the spies.
The title song should not be confused with "Everybody Thinks I'm Crazy" from the 1941 cartoon entitled Woody Woodpecker, starring the character of the same name. However, Kaye's renditions of both the title song from Knock on Wood and "The Woody Woodpecker Song" can be found on the album The Best of Danny Kaye [Spectrum, 2000].
"Knock on Wood" is also the title of a song in another film, Casablanca, with music by M.K. Jerome and lyrics by Jack Scholl. It is performed by Dooley Wilson ("Sam") and orchestra.
