The Five Pennies (1959)

According to producer Jack Rose, The Country Girl is all wrong. "No nice Jewish wife would allow her husband to go on drinking like that! She'd make him leave show business and get a nice steady job as a riveter instead!" "That's right!" I agreed. "The problem is that the movie itself would then peter out!""That's easy!" replied Jack. "Remember that scene in Yankee Doodle Dandy where Jimmy Cagney is all retired on his farm and these teeny-boppers sling off at him because they've never heard of him. So the Cagney character sees the light and makes a comeback! The End!"Alas, for all Jack's insights, The Five Pennies is an incredibly tedious, overly domesticated musical, a chore even for Danny Kaye's most rabid fans – although they might find his self-indulgent singing and mugging, corny lyrics and overblown verbal idiocies less embarrassing than the rest of us. In fact, everything is so weighted in Kaye's favor, he is hardly ever off-screen. Aside from Barbara Bel Geddes, who has a more than her fair share of domestic bickering, the rest of this movie's players are given extremely short shrift. Talented Bob Crosby, for instance, is mercilessly ridiculed by the egocentric Nichols, whilst Ray Anthony is reduced to little more than an extra. To add insult to injury, the blink-and-you'll-miss-him guest appearance by Bob Hope has been removed from the TV print, even though Kaye still has his line, "Even Bob Hope is leaving!" Tuesday Weld, making her entrance when the movie is virtually over, gamely struggles through her thankless role. But fortunately, nothing can put down the fabulous Louis Armstrong – not even the cornball new lyrics for "The Saints Are Marching In". And Mr. Nicholas still plays a mean cornet! Otherwise, the film is a drag, thanks to its tedious script, over-the-top "acting" by Kaye and – to a lesser extent – Barbara Bel Geddes plus Melville Shavelson's indifferent direction. The editing is snail-paced and – aside from Fapp's pleasing color photography – production values limited. And would you believe, all the musical orchestrations are modern. Here is a movie with no sense of period whatever!

Very moving movie based on the life of Red Nichols.If I may dare to say this, this is better music film than the venerable Benny Goodman Story. Performance, the music, and story is all first class. I know this movie influenced many people, one of them being my friend who picked up clarinet after seeing this movie. The movie is very inspirational in terms of family value. Despite his profession, Red is portrayed as a solid family man which probably wasn't too far from the fact. He was also known to be a consummate professional, and a hard worker.In this movie we get to see the values of American people of 80 years ago. Back then polio was crippling many people, as it happened to Nichol's daughter. If it was today, I don't think the husband and wife would have stayed married if the husband was traveling around the country in his band.This movie is the best of its kind, and will forever remain a classic.

I was A teenager when I saw this movie i was so impressed and I was crying my eyes out when his little girl took ill. I do wish that more films like this will be made in the future, Danny Kaye was a wonderful actor Can you tell me if these sort of musical films will ever be screened on television in S A .I did once try to contact T C M but up to date I have Heard Nothing . Films on Turner Classic Movies keeps on showing the same films year in and year out ,seldom that you might see a new movie. Can you email me of more names of films That Danny Kaye acted in would also like to here of any other musical films like the daughter of Rosie O Grady

Danny Kaye is known for his comic roles; for his laughter, his singing, his dancing, his light-hearted humor. But this movie presents a different Danny Kaye - serious, brooding, consumed with guilt, confronted by really serious problems - and here Danny Kaye shines. This movie is proof that if he had to, Danny Kaye could have been one of the greatest dramatic actors in the history of motion pictures. There is no question about that. In this movie, Kaye puts aside the clowning to play a subdued, moody and introspective character who nevertheless is still likable and worthy of attention. And it works! In the movie he wins over the audience, he wins over his family, he wins over his friends. And who can ever forget the scene with Louis Armstrong? Kaye's character overcomes all obstacles to triumph and to be loved. Only a highly skilled and sensitive actor could have done the job, and in this movie Danny Kaye proved that he had the requisite qualities to transform what could have been little more than a sudsy soap opera into a powerful statement about a man who, along with his family, not only survives but sets an example for others. For this reason, this movie is a powerful and compelling work of art.