Danny Kaye is one of my all-time favorite actors. Good looking, gentle, and kind, he was often given the role of the bumbling but good-hearted oaf, and he played it to the hilt. He could never get away with playing a villain; one look at his face and you knew he was a gentleman.
“The Inspector General” takes place a long time ago in a land far away and stars Kaye as Georgi, the illiterate sidekick of Yakov, seller of potions and other side-show gimmicks. One day the lying and the thievery get to Georgi and he tells the townspeople that the potion is a fraud, and Yakov throws Georgi out of the act. Hungry, thirsty, and cold, Georgi stumbles to the nearest village to beg for some food. While walking down the street, a horse follows him, and he is arrested for theft.
Meanwhile, the mayor and city council of this town are up in arms. It seems that Napoleon has sent out an Inspector General to make rounds of all the villages and roust out any corrupt leadership he finds. The leadership of this village is about as corrupt as you can get, and they are scrambling to get all evidences of their thievery hidden before the Inspector arrives. They have been told that the Inspector has been masquerading as a beggar or as a peddler.
When the mayor finds out that Georgi has been arrested and thrown in jail, he immediately suspects that Georgi is the man they’ve been waiting for. They go to the jail, make their apologies, feed him, bathe him, and tuck him up in a warm bed. He’s never had it so good. There’s only one problem – if they find out who he really is, he’ll be hanged. And Yakov just wandered into town, and he can spill the beans.
While amusing, I didn’t find this to be one of Kaye’s better films. It took a while to get going, and then the antics seemed a little over the top and forced. I prefer Kaye when his humor is flowing naturally. (I will be blogging more about that later.) If you’ve got a little time to kill and don’t mind watching a fairly decent movie, you will like this one. But if you’re looking to have your socks knocked off, probably not so much.
A note: You will notice that Danny Kaye always wears a gold ring on his pinkie finger. That’s his wedding ring. He was often called upon to play romantic leads, and a romantic lead can’t wear a wedding ring. This bothered Kaye; he didn’t want to take his wedding ring off, so he wore it on his pinkie instead. Now, if that’s not the sweetest guy . . .
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