The Inspector General *** (1949, Danny Kaye, Walter Slezak, Barbara Bates, Elsa Lanchester, Gene Lockhart) – Classic Movie Review 13,264

Danny Kaye is at his most likeable as a kind-hearted gypsy fool, who wanders into a small town and is mistaken for the inspector general, in the 1949 American Technicolor musical comedy film The Inspector General.

Director Henry Koster’s 1949 American Technicolor musical comedy film The Inspector General [Happy Times] stars Danny Kaye, Walter Slezak, Barbara Bates, Elsa Lanchester, Gene Lockhart, Alan Hale Sr, Walter Catlett, and Rhys Williams. Johnny Green won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Score.

Nikolai Gogol’s classic Russian play is reworked as a vehicle for an on-form Danny Kaye as Georgi, a kind-hearted gypsy circus fool who wanders into the small town of Brodny, where he is mistaken for a top-brass military man, the Inspector General (Rhys Williams), Napoleon Bonaparte’s aide being sent to uncover corruption in the area. Crucially for the plot the emissary is known to come in disguise.

Georgi is treated to the most elaborate courtesies by officials in the small town, run by a corrupt Mayor (Gene Lockhart), whose wife (Elsa Lanchester) falls for Georgi, who has fallen in love with the mayor’s kitchen maid Leza (Barbara Bates).

At his most likeable, Kaye is fine smirking away in the slapstick comedy and even better in the clever patter numbers (lyrics and music by his wife Sylvia Fine), and particularly memorable in ‘The Gypsy Drinking Song’. She also wrote the original songs ‘The Inspector General’ and ‘Happy Times’, both sung by Kaye. Happy Times was the film’s working title.

Danny leaves just enough room for huggable turns from Walter Slezak as the gypsy leader Yakov, Gene Lockhart as the corrupt mayor, Elsa Lanchester as his flighty wife, and Walter Catlett as Colonel Castine, and Rhys Williams as the myopic Inspector General.

Those expecting a chunk of the classics might be disappointed. The screenplay by Philip Rapp and Harry Kurnitz is merely suggested by the 1836 play The Inspector General by Nikolai Gogol, so it is a loose adaptation, with the story re-located from the Russian Empire to a corrupt town in a region of a European country that suddenly comes under the supervision of Napoleon Bonaparte’s First French Empire.

Elsa Lanchester, Barbara Bates, and Danny Kaye.

The cast are Danny Kaye as Georgi, Walter Slezak as Yakov, Barbara Bates as Leza, Elsa Lanchester as Maria, Gene Lockhart as The Mayor, Alan Hale Sr as Kovatch, Walter Catlett as Colonel Castine, Rhys Williams as Inspector General, Buddy Roosevelt as Sentry, Jeff York as Guard, Joan Vohs as Peasant Girl, Fred Kelsey as Villager, Maudie Prickett as Townswoman Ida Moore as old lady in the village, Barbara Pepper as buxom girl in the village, Nestor Paiva as Gregor, Jack Mower as Villager, Paul Newlan as Viertel the woodchopper, Herbert Heywood as Goatherd, Byron Foulger as Burbis, George Davis as Ladislaus, Benny Baker as Telecki and Jimmy Conlin as Jailer.

The original music and lyrics are by Sylvia Fine, who was married to Danny Kaye and is credited as associate producer, with Johnny Green credited for musical direction and incidental score.

Warner Bros reported $2,154,000 US box office and $1,756,000 overseas, a total of $3,910,000 on a budget of $2,873,000.

The film has lapsed into the public domain in the US.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,264

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