Danny Kaye
Burleigh Sullivan
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Comedy
Music
Shy milkman Burleigh Sullivan accidentally knocks out drunken Speed McFarlane, a champion boxer who was flirting with Burleigh's sister. The newspapers get hold of the story and photographers even catch Burleigh knock out Speed again. Speed's crooked manager decides to turn Burleigh into a fighter. Burleigh doesn't realize that all of his opponents have been asked to take a dive. Thinking he really is a great fighter, Burleigh develops a swelled head which puts a crimp in his relationship with pretty nightclub singer Polly Pringle. He may finally get his comeuppance when he challenges Speed for the title.
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| Release Date | 1946-03-21 |
|---|---|
| Runtime | 1h 53m |
| Directors | Norman Z. McLeod, Gregg Toland |
| Producer | Samuel Goldwyn |
| Writers | Don Hartman, Melville Shavelson, Grover Jones, Frank Butler, Richard Connell, Lynn Root, Harry Clork, Sammy Cahn |
This is very much a vehicle for Danny Kaye, and I was never his greatest fan. That said, he does a decent job holding this together. When his sister "Susie" (Vera-Ellen) is facing some unwanted attention from Steve Cochran's boxer "Speed McFarlane", he floors the man. Next thing he knows, he is in the ring, professionally - and winning too. All of this initially impresses nightclub singer "Polly" (Virgina Mayo) but as his victories begin to go to his head, he becomes a bit of an ass. His slightly dodgy manager "Sloan" (Walter Abel) has an ultimate goal - a prize fight against "Speed" but can "Tiger" make the grade and keep his gal? Kaye is on good form, he delivers effortlessly and stylishly throughout. I thought the humour a little too predictable, but this light-hearted spoof on the boxing industry is at times still quite amusing. What let's it down most, isn't anything to do with the stars - it's the unremarkable musical sequences. Jule Styne and Sammy Khan were well off the best when they wrote the songs and neither Mayo nor Vera-Ellen did any of their own singing. The best song by a country mile isn't their's at all - but Sylvia Fine & Max Liebman's "Pavlova" - the only song delivered by Kaye, himself. The film is also rather long. The premiss is fun for some of this, but after a while wears a bit thin and as I, personally, didn't much care for the lead character's character, I started to feel just a little bit bored in the end.
— CinemaSerf