The Inspector General (1949)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Henry Koster

Writers:

Nikolai Gogol (play)
Harry Kurnitz (screenplay)

Release Date:

31 December 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

An illiterate stooge in a traveling medicine show wanders into a strange town and is picked up on a vagrancy charge...

Plot Keywords:

Snake Oil | Medicine Show | Corruption | Deception | Impostor

Awards:

Won Golden Globe.

Cast

Danny Kaye	...	Georgi
Walter Slezak	...	Yakov Goury
Barbara Bates	...	Leza
Elsa Lanchester	...	Maria
Gene Lockhart	...	The Mayor
Alan Hale	...	Kovatch
Walter Catlett	...	Col. Castine
Rhys Williams	...	Inspector General

Also Known As:

Happy Times (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:G (Ontario) | Australia:G | Finland:S | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: When Yakov first reads the note from Leza we can see it says "They are trying to kill you. Don't go near the barn." Later, when the woodchopper reads it he says "Don't go near the barn. They are trying to kill you."

Quotes:

Kovatch: Oh, I love my family, but I'd give my six kids to get rid of my wife.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Hogan's Heroes: The Collector General (#3.27)" (1968)

Soundtrack:

Happy Times

Pleasant Farce With a Fine Cast

A pleasant farce with a fine cast, "The Inspector General" gives Danny Kaye a chance to show off his many talents, and also tells a story that is quite humorous as long as you do not take it too seriously.

Kaye plays Georgi, an illiterate traveling huckster who helps his boss Yakov (Walter Slezak) sell useless medicines to gullible peasants. (The sequence where they try to sell their "elixir" is one of the movie's best scenes.) Georgi visits a small town, where through a series of coincidences, he is mistaken by the town's leaders for the Inspector General, an important official with sweeping powers to punish and reform. Half of the town fawns on him, while the other half panics over what he will discover in his "inspection". Kaye just wants to leave town before they figure out who he really is, but plenty of complications arise that keep things going for quite a while.

Kaye gets to sing, dance, and generally entertain the audience. The supporting cast is filled with fine character actors like Gene Lockhart, Elsa Lanchester, and Alan Hale, who add to the humor. Not a lot of big laughs, but a steady stream of good-natured comedy all the way through.

This is an enjoyable movie recommended for anyone who likes musical comedy.