The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)

Director:

Norman Z. McLeod

Writers:

James Thurber (story) and
Ken Englund (writer)

Release Date:

1 September 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Romance

Plot:

Walter Mitty, a daydreaming pulp-fiction writer with an overprotective mother, likes to imagine that he is a hero who experiences fantastic adventures...

Plot Keywords:

Pulp Fiction | Murder | Milquetoast | Beautiful Woman | Lifting Person In Air

Cast

Danny Kaye	...	Walter Mitty
Virginia Mayo	...	Rosalind van Hoorn
Boris Karloff	...	Dr. Hugo Hollingshead
Fay Bainter	...	Mrs. Eunice Mitty
Ann Rutherford	...	Gertrude Griswald
Thurston Hall	...	Bruce Pierce
Gordon Jones	...	Tubby Wadsworth
Florence Bates	...	Mrs. Emma Griswald
Konstantin Shayne	...	Peter van Hoorn
Reginald Denny	...	Colonel
Henry Corden	...	Hendrick
Doris Lloyd	...	Mrs. Letitia Follinsbee
Fritz Feld	...	Anatole of Paris
Frank Reicher	...	Maasdam
Milton Parsons	...	Butler

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:PG | Finland:S | Germany:12 | Sweden:11 (re-release) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #12017) | Australia:G

Company:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Trivia:

Author James Thurber acknowledged that the character Walter Mitty was based on his friend, writer Robert Benchley. Thurber said that he got the idea for Mitty from the character created by Benchley in a series of shorts that he made for Fox and MGM, respectively, in the 1920s and 1930s. Thurber is also on record as saying that he hated this film and that Danny Kaye's interpretation of Mitty is nothing at all like he intended the character to be.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the scene in the Mitty home's kitchen, after Rosalind van Hoorn has come in the middle of the night during a rain storm to ask for Walter's help, she removes her dress to dry it. As they are talking, Rosalind is shown putting her dress back on and buttoning it all the way to the neck. As the scene shifts and pans back, she is shown once again buttoning the top button of her dress.

Quotes:

Walter Mitty: Here I am, lard face.

Movie Connections:

References Show Boat (1936)

Soundtrack:

Symphony For an Unstrung Tongue (The Little Fiddle)

Very entertaining

Danny Kaye plays Walter Mitty a meek, mild man who has been pushed around all his life by everybody. He takes refuge in elaborate daydreams where he is always the hero. Then he runs into beautiful Rosalind van Hoorn (Virginia Mayo) who is involved with spies and secret codes. He gets involved...but starts to wonder...is she real or just another day dream?

I'm never seen a Danny Kaye movie in my life and he seems to be forgotten today. If this movie is any indication of his talent he deserves to be rediscovered. He was very good in his role--the one liners came fast and furious and he was also a very good physical comedian. I admit I didn't find everything funny but I was never bored. Mayo was undeniably a very beautiful actress with limited acting ability. Still she was OK. Boris Karloff pops up as one of the bad guys and gently kids his bad guy image. Very quick-moving movie, quite funny at times and (in the print showing on TCM) in just beautiful, bright Technicolor. Unfortunately they're doing a remake with (God help us!) Jim Carrey! See this--avoid the remake (if it's made). The author of the short story this was based on (James Thurber) HATED this movie. Too bad he was wrong.

The only debit for me were two LONG songs by Danny Kaye. There was nothing very wrong with them but they come out of nowhere and bring the movie to a screeching halt. For that I'm only giving this film a 9.