Fans of Danny Kaye will probably enjoy this musical comedy, although it is hardly his best work and it lacks the energy and sparkle of his better films, like The Kid from Brooklyn, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Court Jester. Despite a healthy amount of corniness and some jokes that run on too long, Wonder Man offers an unusual form of entertainment by showcasing Danny Kaye in dual roles as twin brothers who are complete opposites in demeanor and choice of profession. “Buzzy” Bellew is a loud, flashy extrovert who runs an exciting Manhattan hot spot called the Pelican Club (a stand-in for the real-life Stork Club), while Edwin Dingle is a brilliant but shy bookworm who spends all day, every day in his local library, absorbing tome after tome in an effort to write his own encyclopedia of world history.
Although Buzzy and Edwin have not seen each other in over a decade, they have the special type of connection that twins often possess. This bond turns out to be supernatural after Buzzy is killed by a pair of hitmen (Allen Jenkins and Edward Brophy), out to get him because he witnessed a murder committed by mobster Ten Grand Jackson (Steve Cochran); from beyond the grave, Buzzy contacts Edwin and convinces the skittish sibling to impersonate Buzzy just long enough to convincingly testify for the New York DA and put Ten Grand in jail. (And that’s just the start of the story!)
Several romances bounce around throughout the narrative: Buzzy is engaged to adorable showgirl Midge Mallon (Vera-Ellen), who is simultaneously loved from afar by Buzzy’s business partner, Monte Rossen (Donald Woods); at the same time, Edwin is sweet on his local librarian, Ellen Shanley (Virginia Mayo), who is totally baffled by the changes that the formerly quiet young man undergoes when Buzzy inhabits Edwin’s body. Additionally, a bunch more character actors make appearances in Wonder Man: S.Z Sakall, Otto Kruger, Natalie Schafer, Huntz Hall, Gisela Werbisek, Luis Alberni, Cecil Cunningham, Mary Field and Jack Norton all show their faces at various points.
Wonder Man is consistently engaging, but I’ve never been a fan of Danny Kaye’s extended musical-comedy sequences, the ones that seemingly go on forever with weird noises and facial contortions. This film’s key example of such absurdism is the “Otchi Tchorniya Number,” a riff on the classic Russian theme that involves every possible permutation of vocal acrobatics as modified by Kaye’s lyricist wife, Sylvia Fine. I appreciate Danny Kaye’s unique comedic presentations, but all the same I’m always glad when the lengthiest performances have ended. I also felt distinctly uncomfortable while watching the film’s first musical number, “Bali Boogie,” in which Kaye, Vera-Ellen and the Goldwyn Girls do some delightful dancing to a song filled with costumes and language representative of the era’s usual stereotyping towards cultures outside of the US. There’s a lot to love about Vera-Ellen’s dancing in Wonder Man, but I would prefer not see her and Kaye pretending to be Indonesian for a few minutes’ cheap laughs.
Coconuts have only been in the Caribbean for 500 years. They just….floated on over from Asia and took root. That’s…hilarious.
Wait really? I always thought they were if not native at least brought over on purpose
Right??? I’m watching this nature doc and when the narrator said that I nearly spit my drink giggling. They’re remarkably buoyant and just bob their way to a new shore. So carefree. Truly a fruit destined to be in the Caribbean.
Migratory Cocoanuts 