The Inspector General [DVD] [1949]

Danny Kaye was a wonderful performer, he would sing, dance, tell jokes, turn his face into rubber and just generally come off as a quality humanitarian. The Inspector General showcases all of those talents. Directed by Henry Koster, The Inspector General is loosely adapted from Nikolai Gogol's classic Russian story, and it finds Kaye as a stooge of Walter Slezak's iffy tonic peddler who is mistaken by iffy officials of a small Russian town for the much feared and respected Inspector General. Cue mistaken identity mayhem as the music numbers, gags, visual contortions and all round slapstick ensues. Along for the ride are Elsa Lanchester, Alan Hale, Barbara Bates and Gene Lockhart.It's more a safe and solid Kaye movie for the family to enjoy, rather than a high end classic like The Court Jester, but sometimes the high energy jinks of Kaye is all you need to lift the blues away. 7/10

Bought this dvd for my sister and she absolutely loves this movie. It is one of her favourites with Danny Kaye in it.Ordering with Amazon is always great.This delivery was way past delivery date but this was caused by the bad weather. Amazon's customer service were acceptionally friendly, patient and extremely accomodating dealing with a stress puppy like myself. I was getting worried I would not receive this order at all (an order before this one was send back to them so I kind of worried the same would happen again) but they as good as promissed they had faith it would be delivered before Christmas and it did !!Yeah Amazon !

A weak but pleasant farce based on a play, there's really only one reason to watch this movie, and that is Danny Kaye. The man had a unique talent for making tongue twisting lyrics not only possible but intelligible. This movie is no exception, with a few witty songs, fewer still witty moments, and more than soupcon of gurning along the way.In terms of content, the style is light and frothy, with the satirical nature of Gogol's play on which the movie is based is sweetened away almost in its entirety. Message filled farce has given way to Danny Kaye vehicle, often way over the top. That said, it does raise a smile with infectious humour. There are a few good lines.. "Oh, I love my family, but I'd give my six kids to get rid of my wife.", and the twisting of the original lyrics to a well known song.. "Drink to me only wi-ith thine eye-eyes / And I will drink with my nose!".The Gypsy song is probably the highlight, as Kaye gets the crowd participation (zzzum - shtok shtok - hahaha ... watch the movie and you'll know what I am talking about..).If you're a Danny Kaye fan then you'll likely enjoy, but if you don't care for his style this movie will certainly not win you over.This DVD version is particularly poor, with a very poor transfer of the original Technicolor. I assume this is the common public domain Eastmancolor 16mm transfer, rather than the superior 35mm Technicolour print which seems rare to find. The sound is also weak and scratchy. Danny Kaye needs larger than life colour and sound to match his larger than life comedy, and I suggest that if you have not seen it before or even want to relive the highlights, wait a bit longer to see if they will finally release a restored remastered version which would do the material better justice.

The film The Inspector General is a classic. It's picture quality could use quite some improvements, but that's not something to complain about on a 1949 picture with a lot fewer ambitions towards longevity than has proved the case. The DVD treatment here is weak. The original's sound quality may not be very good, but seems to have been left completely unaltered. Which means you can't understand much of the dialogue. Now, usually, turning on subtitles will solve most problems with that. But, you guessed it: there are no subtitles here. Not for the hard of hearing, not in other languages. Nothing.I still very much enjoyed watching it, as I had seen it on television before two or three times. This one is filled with excellent jokes by that Court Jester (watch that one too!) Danny Kaye. Kaye is a tramp who finds himself mistaken for the Inspector General of the Czar of Russia, who, the local dignitaries assume, has travelled to their small town under cover. All kinds of misunderstandings and Kaye's evil former employer make the story run apace, especially if you consider the age of this film. Without revealing all the details, 2 things stand out. First, Kaye is continually being put into the clothes of the town's chief constable, even when he smears them with dirt, until the poor fellow is left with not much to wear himself. Second, Kaye solliloquies and bursts into song with three alternative selves: the Arrogant, the Elegant and the Smart. A technical marvel of film making at the time (like Jerry Mouse dancing with Gene Kelly) and a very funny scene.

I have always liked and admired Danny Kaye and was looking forward to seeing this film, however, this has to be one of his worst films ever, Yes, he was brilliant and so talented but to have to sit through the garbage in between was like watching paint dry ! I did enjoy the song Wish on the moon and the Gypsy melody (about Hiccoughs) that was brilliant, I could not watch it again though, I shall buy the songs on a CD.

A little dated but blimey, it goes back a long way. But Danny Kaye at his genius best, what a joy of a talent. I'm a bit dated, coming from about that era too, and enjoyed it immensely

An old classic. A must if you like Danny Kaye.

This is not Danny Kaye's best comedy, but perfectly serviceable and he runs through his repertoire with ease. One laughs, the supporting cast is good and Sylvia Fine has come up with the sort of numbers he did so well. But it does Gogol's play no favours and things do tend to drag at times. However, if you like Kaye and are collecting his movies this one is well worth having.