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poster of Knock on Wood
Rating: 6.6/10 by 30 users

Knock on Wood (1954)

Ventriloquist Jerry Morgan has failed with another love affair. The reason: when the relationship reaches the point when it is time to discuss marriage, his two dolls become mean and jealous. Morgan's dollmaker Papinek is a member of a spy ring who has stolen the secret plans for the top-secret Lafayette airplane. Since Morgan is leaving for Zurich the same night, he decides to hide the secret plan in the heads of the dolls.

Directing:
  • Norman Panama
  • Melvin Frank
Writing:
  • Norman Panama
  • Melvin Frank
Stars:
Release Date: Tue, Apr 06, 1954

Rating: 6.6/10 by 30 users

Alternative Title:

Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 43 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $0

Plot Keyword: spy, love, ventriloquist, murder
Subtitle   Wallpaper   Watch Trailer    

Danny Kaye
Jerry Morgan
Mai Zetterling
Ilse Nordstrom
Torin Thatcher
Godfrey Langston
David Burns
Marty Brown
Leon Askin
Laslo Gromeck
Abner Biberman
Maurice Papinek
Gavin Gordon
Car Salesman
Steven Geray
Doctor Kreuger
Diana Adams
Princess Maya
Virginia Huston
Audrey Greene
Paul England
Chief Inspector Wilton
Johnstone White
Langston's Secretary
Henry Brandon
Second Trenchcoat Man
Lewis Martin
Inspector Cranford
John Alderson
English Bobby
Patrick Whyte
English Butler

CinemaSerf

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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