The dueling movies are two WWII
comedies. Both involve cases of mistaken
identity. “Imitation General” stars
Glenn Ford as Sgt. Murphy. He and Cpl.
Derby (Red Buttons) are with a Gen. Lane at an isolated French farmhouse owned
by a feisty French girl named Simone (Taina Elg). When the general gets killed, Murph decides
to masquerade as him to keep morale up.
The complication (surprise, there is one!) is that Murph’s bitter enemy
is now on the scene. Pvt. Hutchmeyer
(Tige Andrews) holds a grudge because Murph had him busted. Comedy ensues with comic relief supplied by
Buttons, of course. The movie tries to
be a dramedy by throwing in some action.
Murph uses a jeep rigged up as a tank to defend a bridge against a
German attack. There is actually a neat little tank battle (with the same model
tanks on both sides). Murph and Derby
take out two tanks by jumping on them, covering the sights and throwing in
grenades, like any general would do! All
this while avoiding Hutchmeyer.
“On the Double” is a Danny Kaye
movie which tells you a lot about what is going to happen in it. Naturally, he will play more than one
role. Kaye is the hypochondriac, coward
Ernie Williams who because of his ability to mimic anyone is tabbed for
Operation Dead Pigeon. He will double
for Col. MacKenzie-Smith who is a key person in Operation Overlord. The Germans are out to assassinate the
colonel, but Ernie is not told this is a suicide mission. This movie has a
complication as well. The colonels
estranged wife Lady Margaret (Dana Wynter) shows up and somehow knows this
buffoon is not her suave husband. They
fall in love and the real colonel’s plane gets shot down so they live happily
ever after. Well, not until lunacy
ensues. Assassination attempts allow
Kaye to do his usual shtick which includes singing a song and lots of physical
comedy. He gets kidnapped and brought to
Berlin. Did I mention this is not a true
story? After talking jibberish under
torture (three minutes of it), he escapes using a variety of disguises,
including Hitler.
This is more of a pillow fight
than a duel. “Imitation General” has
some good acting. Ford and Buttons are
their usual reliable selves. They do
their best with a lame script. Even for
a comedy, the plot is rife with implausibilities. The main problem is it is not that
funny. “On the Double” is a typical
Danny Kaye vehicle, but not one of his better ones. He gives it his all, but much of it is
forced. There is even a food fight! The plot sets up future bits in a ham-handed
way. For instance, the colonel wears a
patch over his left eye, but Ernie is poorly sighted in his right so they get
him a contact. Do you think there will
be a moment when the contact falls out and Ernie will be comically
blinded? Obviously, OTD makes IG look
like a documentary. It is far from
subtle, but some of the jokes score.
It’s more quantity than quality, however.
Which film is better? That’s a tough call. If you want a little action, choose
“Imitation General”. If you just want
humor, watch “On the Double”. Just don’t
expect a lot of laughs from either. They
are both forgettable and mark the end of an era that was replaced by the
cynical / satirical school of movies like “Dr. Strangelove”, “Catch-22”, and
“MASH”. Progress is good.
P.S. Check out those posters. Apparently depictions of women bathing really drew audiences in the lat 50s/early 60s.
Imitation General = C-
On the Double = C
nice post
ReplyDelete