On the Double *** (1961, Danny Kaye, Dana Wynter, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Diana Dors, Margaret Rutherford) – Classic Movie Review 7643

Co-writer/ producer/ director Melville Shavelson’s 1961 On the Double provides a witty title for a witty Danny Kaye comedy in which he plays Private First Class Ernie Williams, an American GI who specialises in impersonations and happens to resemble a British general, Sir Lawrence MacKenzie-Smith, so he is made a spy for the Brits during World War Two. He becomes a political decoy, in order to thwart another assassination plot on the general.

On the Double is a successful reprise of the idea that had worked well for him a decade earlier in On the Riviera (1951, with Danny Kaye, Gene Tierney, and Corinne Calvet). It is a Paramount Picture, and Hollywood recruits a sterling British support cast, who once again prove their worth, and director Shavelson speeds the movie along on the double.

Among the main delights in that vintage Brit cast are Dana Wynter [who was German-born but grew up in England] as Lady Margaret, Wilfrid Hyde White as Colonel Somerset, Diana Dors as Sergeant Bridget Stanhope and Margaret Rutherford as Lady Vivian. Bobby Watson impersonates Adolf Hitler.

Also in the cast are Allan Cuthbertson, Jesse White, Terrence de Marney, Gregory Walcott, Rex Evans, Rudolph Anders, Edgar Barrier, Pamela Light and Ben Astar.

Danny Kaye gets into drag and parodies Lola-Lola’s nightclub act from The Blue Angel as Fraulein Lilli in On the Double. Other memorable Marlene Dietrich movie impersonations include Madeline Kahn as Lili von Schtupp in Blazing Saddles and Helmut Berger in Luchino Visconti’s The Damned.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7643

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