Wonder Man (1945)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

H. Bruce Humberstone

Writers:

Arthur Sheekman (story)
Jack Jevne (adaptation) ...
(more)

Release Date:

26 March 1946 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Fantasy

Plot:

Boisterous nightclub entertainer Buzzy Bellew was the witness to a murder committed by gangster Ten Grand Jackson...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Gangster | Ghost | Witness | Twins

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 3 nominations

Cast

Danny Kaye	...	Edwin Dingle / Buzzy Bellew
Virginia Mayo	...	Ellen Shanley
Vera-Ellen	...	Midge Mallon
Donald Woods	...	Monte Rossen
S.Z. Sakall	...	Schmidt
Allen Jenkins	...	Chimp
Edward Brophy	...	Torso
Steve Cochran	...	Ten Grand Jackson
Otto Kruger	...	Distrcit Attorney
Richard Lane	...	Asst. District Attorney
Natalie Schafer	...	Mrs. Hume
Huntz Hall	...	Sailor
Virginia Gilmore	...	Sailor's Girl Friend
Edward Gargan	...	Policeman in Park (as Ed Gargan)
Alice Mock	...	Prima Donna
Gisela Werbisek	...	Mrs. Schmidt
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
The Goldwyn Girls	...	Themselves
Eddie Acuff	...	Pelican Club Doorman (uncredited)
Luis Alberni	...	Opera Prompter (uncredited)
Jane Allen	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Leon Belasco	...	Pianist (uncredited)
Deannie Best	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Karin Booth	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Alma Carroll	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Maurice Cass	...	Opera Stage Manager (uncredited)
Chester Clute	...	Man on Bus (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	Pelican Club Extra (uncredited)
Noel Cravat	...	Opera Singer (uncredited)
Cecil Cunningham	...	The Barker (uncredited)
Maureen Cunningham	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Eddie Cutler	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Loretta Daye	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Gloria Delson	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Harry Depp	...	Pelican Club Extra (uncredited)
Eddie Dunn	...	Cop (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn	...	Cop (uncredited)
Jim Farley	...	Stage Hand (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Pelican Club Extra (uncredited)
Mary Field	...	Miss Hutchison - the Police Stenographer (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	Bus Driver (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Pelican Club Extra / Opera Patron (uncredited)
Phyllis Forbes	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Byron Foulger	...	Deli Customer (uncredited)
Aldo Franchetti	...	Opera Conductor (uncredited)
Karen X. Gaylord	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Ellen Hall	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Carol Haney	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Pelican Club Extra (uncredited)
Charles Irwin	...	Drunk at Bar (uncredited)
Dorothy Jean	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Grace Johnson	...	Entertainer (uncredited)
Eddie Kane	...	Pierre, the Headwaiter (uncredited)
John Kelly	...	Cab Driver (uncredited)
Virginia Kepler	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Alice Kersten	...	Entertainer (uncredited)
Dorothy Koster	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Betty Lane	...	Entertainer (uncredited)
Georgia Lange	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Barbara La Rene	...	Acrobatic Dancer (uncredited)
Janet Lavis	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Mickey Malloy	...	Entertainer (uncredited)
Betty Marion	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Jean Marley	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Bob Mascagno	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Helen McAllister	...	Entertainer (uncredited)
Helen McGowan	...	Entertainer (uncredited)
Mary Meade	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Frank Melton	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Pelican Club Extra (uncredited)
Frank Mills	...	Assistant Stage Manager (uncredited)
Baldo Minuti	...	Opera Singer (uncredited)
Grant Mitchell	...	Mr. Wagonseller (uncredited)
Martha Montgomery	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Mary Moore	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
William Newell	...	Pelican Club Extra (uncredited)
Jack Norton	...	Drunk in Club (uncredited)
Ray Nyles	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Cathy O'Donnell	...	Nightclub Extra (uncredited)
Frank Orth	...	Charlie, the Bartender (uncredited)
Walter Pietila	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Allen Pinson	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Nino Pipitone	...	Opera Singer (uncredited)
Albert Ruiz	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Susan Scott	...	Entertainer (uncredited)
Sarah Selby	...	Woman in Library (uncredited)
Georgann Smith	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Alice Stansfield	...	Entertainer (uncredited)
Larry Steers	...	Pelican Club Extra (uncredited)
Margie Stewart	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Ray Teal	...	Opera Ticket Taker (uncredited)
Charles Teske	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Nick Thompson	...	Opera Singer (uncredited)
Doris Toddings	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Ruth Valmy	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Willard Van Simmons	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Billy Wayne	...	Wardrobe Man (uncredited)
Chili Williams	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Mary Jane Woods	...	Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)

Directed by
H. Bruce Humberstone		(as Bruce Humberstone)

Writing credits
Arthur Sheekman		(story)
Jack Jevne		(adaptation) &
Eddie Moran		(adaptation)
Don Hartman		(writer) &
Melville Shavelson		(writer) &
Philip Rapp		(writer)

Produced by
Samuel Goldwyn	....	producer

Original Music by
Ray Heindorf		(uncredited)
Heinz Roemheld		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Victor Milner
William E. Snyder		(as William Snyder)

Film Editing by
Daniel Mandell

Art Direction by
Ernst Fegté

Set Decoration by
Howard Bristol

Costume Design by
Travis Banton
Mary Grant		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Nina Roberts	....	hair stylist
Robert Stephanoff	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William McGarry	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
McClure Capps	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Fred Lau	....	sound recordist
Arthur Johns	....	sound effects (uncredited)

Special Effects by
John P. Fulton	....	special photographic effects (as John Fulton)

Music Department
Sylvia Fine	....	special musical material: Otchi Tchorniya number
Louis Forbes	....	musical director
Ray Heindorf	....	conductor
Ray Heindorf	....	orchestrator
June Hutton	....	singing voice: Vera-Ellen (uncredited)

Other crew
Samuel Goldwyn	....	presenter
Natalie Kalmus	....	technicolor color director
Mitchell Kovaleski	....	associate technicolor color director
John Wray	....	dance director

Production Companies

• Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1945) (USA) (theatrical)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1952) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Classic Collection (video)
• Home Box Office Home Video (HBO) (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Pioneer (1994) (USA) (laserdisc)
• Sultan Video (video)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Australia:G (TV rating) | Finland:K-16 | Portugal:M/6 | USA:Unrated | Sweden:15

Company:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Trivia:

Vera-Ellen's first film.

Quotes:

Edwin: Do you remember you once told me you wouldn't be found dead in Brooklyn?
Buzzy's Ghost: Yeah, I remember. That was the only way they could get me here.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of Comedy (1997) (V)

Soundtrack:

So in Love

Kaye's Klassik!

This has always been my favourite Danny Kaye movie, it sustains the humour and story up to the end pretty well. All of his films are a roller-coaster for me: helpless tearful laughter one second, grim pained winces next, and WM is no exception to this rule, even though I love it. Perhaps he only needed a little more ... discipline in his comedy routines, to know when to stop, maybe at the 3rd joke stopped sneeze in a row etc. Sylvia Fine could have been a bigger help in this regard of course. On the other hand maybe we should be grateful for what we've got, and anyway in the end who'd really have wanted him any other way?

It may seem a little rough for the charismatic Buzzy Bellew to get murdered and come back as a ghost seeking proxy justice through the intermediary of his mono-zygotic twin brother Edwin Dingle, both comically played by Kaye. But this was just after the War and people generally weren't too sensitive at that point and didn't normally morbidly dwell on Sam Goldwyn's Technicolor fantasies. And that's basically all there is to it, a fine cast make the most of a good script. The special effects are OK but Time has wreaked its usual havoc on the actual film itself, and technology has also ruined us in the intervening years.

Favorite bits: Kaye repeatedly asking Cuddles in the delicatessen for a pint of Prospect Park; Kaye pretending he was in a pet shop (not a theatre) over the phone to Virginia Mayo; the sudden change into an operatic tenor; hearing Richard Lane's voice scything through everything. Bad bits: the Goldwyn Girls' one scene - no wonder Mayo stood out! The gaps in the mortals' conversation for the ghost to speak his lines was also too apparent - but hey, I said that I love this film!