7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Discovering that a ventriloquist (Danny Kaye) is travelling to Zurich, a spy ring hides plans for a deadly secret weapon in his dummies' heads. When a second spy ring learns of the secret plans in his possession, they descend upon his hotelroom. The result is two dead agents, and Jerry is blamed. Hunted through London as the "Red-Headed Ripper", Jerry flees both police and spies. Eventually, the ringleader of the spies is apprehended by Jerry who is hailed a hero and is free to marry his beautiful lady psychiatrist Ilse Nordstrom (Mai Zetterling).
Starring: Danny Kaye, Mai Zetterling, Torin Thatcher, David Burns, Leon AskinComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.75:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Did Paramount have a psychoanalyst on staff during the forties and fifties? The studio seemed intent on creating comedies built around patently neurotic characters who many times had to confront their neuroses, including overcoming fears or other mental “issues”, and even at times assuming other identities (how positively Freudian) to complete a task which would then magically “cure” them. Even a cursory glance at the persona Paramount star Bob Hope created in his film roles is an exemplar of this approach. Hope’s characters were often milquetoasts who would jump at the sight of their own shadows, but who overcame this dysfunction with an obviously intentionally comedic combination of avarice and, at times, lechery. Hope’s cowardice never quite arose to the panicked heights of, say, Universal’s Lou Costello in the many Abbott and Costello comedies where Lou would be so frightened at times he could barely speak, something which would of course then drive Bud Abbott to veritable distraction. One might think that Hope’s case was simply one of writers tailoring material to fit a certain comedian’s style, but a more studio-wide phenomenon perhaps comes into focus when one considers the case of Danny Kaye. Kaye did not have the longstanding relationship with Paramount that Hope did, and in fact by the time Kaye made Knock on Wood for the studio in 1951, he had already established himself in a series of films that bore the imprimaturs of such competitors as Samuel Goldwyn, Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox. But it would be easy to see Hope taking over for Kaye in this somewhat labored by fitfully amusing entry, at least if one jettisoned the rapid patter songs around which Kaye had built much of his career. Kaye portrays a very Hope-like neurotic here, one whose fear of women leads him to sabotage burgeoning relationships, albeit through snarky comments voiced by the character’s ventriloquist dummy. Also as in a number of Hope entries, the Kaye character finds himself caught up in all sorts of intrigue, having to adopt various alter egos in order to ferret out what’s going on and clear his name.
Knock on Wood is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This film came at the tail end of the three strip Technicolor era, though it appears this was done with the then new Eastmancolor process. One way or the other, the elements here boast generally decent color, even if it appears this was sourced from dupes of some kind, as evidenced by an all around fuzziness (some of which gets to almost out of focus territory at times). There are several blemishes that crop up from time to time, including what appear to be flashing blotches of red, green or purple invading the image for very brief moments. There are some slight registration problems, with moderate issues that resemble fringing, especially in the last third or so of the film. At around 1:04:00 things get noticeably softer than the bulk of the film, something that continues for most of the rest of the outing. All of this said, though, generally things look nice, if not spectacular, with nicely saturated color (especially with regard to reds and blues) and above average fine detail. As with most Olive outings, no restoration or digital tweaking appears to have been done.
Knock on Wood features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix that has some very slight distortion in the midrange which slightly affects some of the music, including the songs Kaye sings. Otherwise, though, this is a clear presentation of a somewhat narrow sounding track. Dialogue is clean and easy to hear with very good fidelity. Dynamic range is negligible.
No supplements are included on this Blu-ray.
Knock on Wood has some cute bits, but overall it's a bit lethargic, even when it's filled to the brim with Kaye's mugging and tic-filled performance. Sylvia Fine contributes her typically brilliant patter material for Kaye, and a couple of the set pieces are amusingly done. This Blu-ray's image is generally decent, though it has some noticeable issues, as does the audio.
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