Enjoyable, colourful fantasy romp, with the ever-effervescent Danny Kaye in a double role as a motormouth, lady-killing club comedian, rubbed out by the gangster he's about to testify against, who returns from a watery grave to encourage his long-lost bookworm brother to see that wrong is righted with, not unnaturally a good few humorous songs, dance routines and slapstick scenes helping us to the predictable happy ending.
I'm a fan of Kaye's and love fantasy films, of which there were several in the 40's and 50's. I don't count this his best film, although the man himself gives a performance of much charm and energy and neither do I rate this amongst the very best film of its type, but I still enjoyed it a lot and laughed often.
I actually think there's a nifty plot at play here and was a bit disappointed to see it often reduced to merely linking, or so it seemed, the next song and dance routine. While these are mostly fun, especially Kaye's hay-fever song and particularly the hilarious opera song at the end which is classic Kaye, they do occasionally slow down the action. The villains could have been worked better too but there are compensations with the two female leads, a young and very light-footed Vera Ellen and the comely Virginia Mayo.
The ghostly special effects are entertaining enough and the cinematography a riot of gaudy Technicolour. Probably too much of the acting by the supports is just mugging but everyone knows well enough to get out of Kaye's way when he does his stuff. I prefer his work where he's the sole male lead, even as I appreciate the difficulty in purveying consistently good material for his off-beat persona.
All in all a (pun-intended) spirit-raising musical comedy for all the family.
I'm a fan of Kaye's and love fantasy films, of which there were several in the 40's and 50's. I don't count this his best film, although the man himself gives a performance of much charm and energy and neither do I rate this amongst the very best film of its type, but I still enjoyed it a lot and laughed often.
I actually think there's a nifty plot at play here and was a bit disappointed to see it often reduced to merely linking, or so it seemed, the next song and dance routine. While these are mostly fun, especially Kaye's hay-fever song and particularly the hilarious opera song at the end which is classic Kaye, they do occasionally slow down the action. The villains could have been worked better too but there are compensations with the two female leads, a young and very light-footed Vera Ellen and the comely Virginia Mayo.
The ghostly special effects are entertaining enough and the cinematography a riot of gaudy Technicolour. Probably too much of the acting by the supports is just mugging but everyone knows well enough to get out of Kaye's way when he does his stuff. I prefer his work where he's the sole male lead, even as I appreciate the difficulty in purveying consistently good material for his off-beat persona.
All in all a (pun-intended) spirit-raising musical comedy for all the family.