Wonder Man |
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Danny Kaye plays two twin brothers in this 1945 comedy. Buzzy Bellew (Buster Dingle) is a popular night club performer, while his brother Edwin Dingle is a genius who spends most of his time at the local library. (He's also in love with the librarian, Miss Shanley.) Buzzy witnesses the murder of a fan dancer and promises to testify in the trial. Unfortunately, the murderer, Ten Grand Jackson, is let out on bail and hires two assassins to kill Buzzy; they are successful. His body is dumped over the bridge in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Buzzy's ghost calls for his brother Edwin to help the police convict Ten Grand for the fan dancer, and his own, murder. As is typical in Danny Kaye films, many kooky and hysterical scenes follow, many of which involve Buzzy occupying his rather staid brother's body.
This film won an academy award for special effects, a much deserved prize. Given when the film was made (1945), the scenes with Buzzy the ghost are incredibly effective. It is also musical, and there are many of fun musical numbers.
| Cast List
Edwin Dingle/Buzzy Bellew ... (Danny Kaye) |
Ellen Shanley, the librarian in the film, does not fit any of the stereotypes. She's young, she's blonde, she's beautiful. She wears her hair down in the popular 1940s fashion, not in a tight bun. Her lips are always bright red, and one rather suspects that if she wanted to marry, she would have no difficulties finding a husband. She is most definitely not a spinster, she's still too young.
But one must wonder, why is she portrayed in this way? I think the answer is fairly obvious. Edwin Dingle needs a love interest, and given he's the intellectual type and spends all of his time in the library, the most logical choice is a librarian. No one would believe he would be attracted to the stereotypical spinster. Besides, Ellen marries Edwin Dingle at the end of the film, which would have been an acceptable (and perhaps expected) action for a pretty young woman like Miss Shanley in 1945.