Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The (1947)

Samuel Goldwyn Productions

Director: Norman Z. McLeod

Starring: Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo

Adapted from the celebrated short story by James Thurber, this Technicolor picture starring talented funny man Danny Kaye is remembered for its vibrant character, as well as it bright colors. Molded to allow its star to perform his talented mix of physical, verbal, and musical comedy the film manifests far more of its lead actor, Danny Kaye, than its source author, James Thurber. Its result was a grand box office number, a frustrated novelist, and generations of Kaye fans, entertained by his brand of humor.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a Technicolor musical comedy mystery following the story of a problematic daydreamer who finds himself mixed in an adventure even he cannot believe. Walter Mitty (Danny Kaye) is a proofreader at a New York publishing company that suffers from an overactive imagination and chronic daydreaming, commonly imagining himself as a dashing, confident hero which is practically his opposite in every way from his much more meeker self. His constant lack of attention leaves Mitty to appear apologetically bumbling and forgetful to all in his life, which includes his overbearing mother (Fay Bainter), his idea stealing boss (Thurston Hall), and a fiancée (Ann Rutherford) and her mother who will one day control him.

When Walter runs into Rosalind (Virginia Mayo), a beautiful mysterious blonde who appears to be the girl of his dreams, he gets pulled into a cryptic adventure protecting her from a series of tough goons in pursuit of her. The escapade is so random and unbelievable to Walter that it makes him question his own reality as Rosalind appears and disappears randomly through what would be his normal day, wondering if this is all just one of his elaborate daydreams. On his wedding day Walter pieces together that Rosalind is real, running from the alter to save her from the band of baddies led by Dr. Hollingshead (Boris Karloff). When Walter is rebuked by his mother, his boss, and his fiancée for his actions our hero finally stands up for himself, resulting with him happily marrying Rosalind and earning himself respect he had only in his daydreams.

The picture proves to be a vehicle that wonderfully showcases the humor that Danny Kaye manifests so well. From his verbal talents of being able to sing tongue twisters, babbling off long and complicated series of nonsense, and goofy accents, to his creative slew of characters that he appears to pull out at whim, he remains centered enough to still play the straight man of the story. There is plenty of Kaye hamming it up for the camera with his boundless expressions of flabbergasted confusion and much more, making sure that there is a singular focal point to this motion picture. The feature is light and bright, focusing on the playfulness and fun of Walter’s daydreams and his adventure while being able to not take itself too seriously, resulting in many situations for humor and the happy ending where the meek main character earns his confidence and the girl.

When James Thurber optioned his short story for $10,000 to producer Samuel Goldwyn he hoped for a much truer adaption than what he would eventually get. The film was to reunite Director Norman Z. McLeod and stars Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo from a pair of previously successful comedies, 1945’s Wonder Man and 1946‘s The Kid from Brooklyn. With Norman Z. McLeod, who best known works came from comedies with the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, as well as the Topper series, and Danny Kaye, known for his comedy acts and radio shows, this film appeared to be set in the direction of more zany humor than what Thurber would have intended.

From the beginning Goldwyn was experiencing troubles with the script for the feature, claiming that Thurber was hired to consult to aid in forming the script. However as the film moved towards production the scripted conformed to fit the stylings of Kaye’s performances, allowing him to structure a plot that showcased his many different characters with acts and numbers that provided Kaye’s own twists to be seen throughout. It is clear to see Kaye is fully invested in the film and delivers a performance that is bursting with energy and silliness that is rounded out with the plot of a daydreamer questioning his reality. Thurber was not amused. With a possibility to change the title before its release Goldwyn stuck to the original inspiration for its namesake, however Thurber would joke that the film should have been titled “The Secret Life of Danny Kaye.”

Virginia Mayo returns to star in her third picture alongside of Kaye, coming off her performance in the Academy Award winner for Best Picture  The Best Years of Own Lives, where she portrayed a greedy girlfriend. Although her performance here is much more flat and she appears nearly caked in her makeup under the bright lights for this Technicolor film, she is lovable and the hook to the story that makes Walter Mitty a bit more grounded.

From the number of supporting characters through the picture Boris Karloff presents himself a wonderful villain. Best known as the iconic original Frankenstein’s monster for the 1931 Universal classic, Karloff with his wonderful British accent and proper ways, yet menacing scowl simply grabs the attention of the audience every moment he is on screen. It is understandable how difficult it may have been for him burst through the typecasting as a villain, but his performance is enduring in this brief role in this silly comedy.

Also notable for her appearance in this picture is the Academy Award winner Fay Bainter with her soft yet domineering manner as Walter’s mother. Character actor Thurston Hall brings humorous not so sly quality to his performance as Walter’s boss, Bruce Pierce. Former Andy Hardy female mainstay Ann Rutherford portrays Walter fiancée Gertrude with her very overbearing and judging mother played by the lovable Florence Bates.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty proved to be a critical and box office success for Samuel Goldwyn, despite it not being loved at all by James Thurber. With time many have come to rank the picture as one the greatest comedies in American cinematic history. There are others that find the talents of Danny Kaye to be playing too much to the camera taking away from what was a creative story. It is undoubtably the talents of Danny Kaye was loved by many as his career continued with great success for decades to come, a symbolic performer that tended to stay within a realm of family friendly humor with his gift of gad, music, accents, play on language, and even dance and Walter Mitty was a grand vehicle for that.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty would return as a silver screen idea in the late 1990s, bouncing around movie scripts and various names as possible stars for the picture. Eventually 2013 saw a new Secret Life of Walter Mitty directed by and starring Ben Stiller, which was in part produced by Samuel Goldwyn Jr. and John Goldwyn, the son and grandson of the original’s producer, Samuel Goldwyn. The remake would hardly resemble the Danny Kaye original which by many movie fans tend to consider fan superior.