Knock on Wood (1954) YTS - Download Yify Movie

Reviewed by CinemaSerf 6 / 10

With Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly dominating this

With Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly dominating this genre, it's easy to forget that Danny Kaye was actually quite an accomplished dancer and singer - and he demonstrates that quite charismatically in this rather daft spy caper. Here he also reminds us of just how popular ventriloquists were as his "Jerry" character finds himself embroiled in an international espionage ring that involves some top secret blueprints, his dummy's brand new head and the dastardly British industrialist "Langston" (Torin Thatcher). It's this latter man who turns out to want to acquire and sell on the plans - but there is no absence of competitors who are trying to entrap our hapless entertainer. Meantime, he begins to fall for the sceptical "Dr. Ilse" (Mai Zetterling) and she - slightly uncertain as to whether he's a bit screwy or not - soon finds herself equally involved in the increasingly farcical goings on in a fine Zurich hotel. It's all fairly predicable, borderline slapstick, fayre but there's a fair degree of agreeable chemistry between Kaye and Zetterling with both being quite adept on the dance floor and him delivering a couple of cheery, if not entirely memorable, numbers from Sylvia Fine. The production quality lets it down a bit if you happen to know anything about actually living in London, but there's still some humour in the writing that Kaye delivers quite engagingly as we build to a denouement straight out of "Sherlock Holmes" that takes a few pings at the international jet-set en route.

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Reviewed by CCsito 7 / 10

Two of Danny Kaye's funniest comedic scenes

This movie probably doesn't match some of the better known Danny Kaye comedy movies, but it has what I consider to be two of the funniest scenes in any of his movies. The first one is when he is under a table with two men sitting and he has to match hand movements of them with his two hands. Very tricky and requires a lot of synchronization. I am sure that it took a few takes to get it right. The second is when Danny is trying to hide from both the police and spies and gets mixed up in a Russian ballet troupe performing on stage. He goes through a hilarious routine with the ballerina. These two scenes alone make watching this movie worthwhile.

Knock on Wood

1954

Action / Comedy

Knock on Wood

1954

Action / Comedy

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With Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly dominating this

Two of Danny Kaye's funniest comedic scenes

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