Knock on Wood (film)

{{About|the 1954 American comedy|the 1981 French comedy|La Chèvre}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Knock on Wood

| image = Knock on Wood (1954 movie poster).jpg

| caption = Promotional poster

| director = Melvin Frank
Norman Panama

| producer = Melvin Frank
Norman Panama

| writer = Melvin Frank
Norman Panama

| starring = Danny Kaye
Mai Zetterling
Torin Thatcher
David Burns
Leon Askin

| music = Sylvia Fine
Victor Young

| cinematography = Daniel L. Fapp

| editing = Alma Macrorie

| studio = Dena Productions

| distributor = Paramount Pictures

| released = {{Film date|1954|4|14}}

| runtime = 103 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| gross = $3.5 million (US){{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|title=1954 in Biz There is None Like|date=January 5, 1955|page=71|url=https://archive.org/details/variety197-1955-01-05/page/n69/mode/1up?|access-date=February 13, 2025|via=Archive.org}}

}}

Knock on Wood is a 1954 American comedy thriller film starring Danny Kaye and Mai Zetterling. Other actors in the film include Torin Thatcher, David Burns, and Leon Askin. The film was written and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, with songs by Kaye's wife, Sylvia Fine. Location shooting in England took place around London as well as Maidenhead and Marlow.{{cite news |last=Brownell Jr. |first=William H. |date=26 July 1953 |title=HOLLYWOOD CANVAS; ' Knock on Wood' Script Permits Danny Kaye to Improvise -- Other Matters |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/07/26/archives/hollywood-canvas-knock-on-wood-script-permits-danny-kaye-to.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=13 February 2025 |url-access=subscription |page=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250213093728/https://www.nytimes.com/1953/07/26/archives/hollywood-canvas-knock-on-wood-script-permits-danny-kaye-to.html |archive-date=13 February 2025 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |author-link=Bosley Crowther |date=15 April 1954 |title=The Screen: 'Knock on Wood' Opens; Danny Kaye Returns in Comedy at Capitol |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/04/15/archives/the-screen-knock-on-wood-opens-danny-kaye-returns-in-comedy-at.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=13 February 2025 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=13 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250213090544/https://www.nytimes.com/1954/04/15/archives/the-screen-knock-on-wood-opens-danny-kaye-returns-in-comedy-at.html |url-status=live }}

Plot

Jerry Morgan is a ventriloquist who is having trouble with love: just when his relationship with a woman gets around to marriage, his dummy turns jealous and spoils everything. Jerry's manager Marty threatens to quit unless Jerry sees a psychiatrist, Ilse Nordstrom, who tries to discover the source of his problem. The two of them eventually fall in love.

At the same time, Jerry becomes unwittingly intertwined with spies and has to run from the police. In his escape, he finds himself impersonating a British car salesman, trying to demonstrate a new convertible with loads of bells and whistles. Later on, he finds himself on stage in the middle of the performance of an exotic ballet.

Cast

{{castlist|

Danny Kaye as Jerry Morgan/Jerry's father
Mai Zetterling as Doctor Ilse Nordstrom
Torin Thatcher as Godfrey Langston, the film's villain
David Burns as Marty Brown, Jerry's manager
Leon Askin as Lazlo Gromek, a spy
Abner Biberman as Maurice Papinek, a spy
Otto Waldis as Brodnik, a spy
Gavin Gordon as Car Salesman
Steven Geray as Doctor Krüger
Diana Adams as Princess Maya
Patricia Denise as Jerry's Mother
Virginia Huston as Audrey Greene
Paul England as Chief Inspector Wilton
Johnstone White as Langstons Secretary
Henry Brandon as Man with a Trenchcoat
Lewis Martin as Inspector Crawford

}}

Home media

Knock on Wood was issued as a region 2 DVD in March 2009.{{cn|date=February 2025}} A remastered version was released on DVD on September 28, 2010.{{cite web |last=Weber |first=Bill |date=October 12, 2010 |title=Review: Melvin Frank and Norman Panama's Knock on Wood on Olive Films DVD |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/knock-on-wood/ |website=Slant Magazine |access-date=February 12, 2025}}

Reception

Clyde Gilmour of Maclean's wrote, "Danny Kaye returns to his top form as a bewildered ventriloquist who tangles hilariously with spies, Scotland Yard, Irish tenors, a Russian ballet troupe and a shapely psychiatrist in various European capitals. Highly recommended."{{cite magazine |last=Gilmour |first=Clyde |author-link=Clyde Gilmour |date=August 1, 1954 |title=Maclean's Movies |url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1954/8/1/macleans-movies |magazine=Maclean's |location=Toronto, Ontario |access-date=12 February 2025 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810082029/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1954/8/1/macleans-movies |archive-date=August 10, 2021}}

Banned ripoff

Begunah ({{translation|"innocent"}}) is a 1957 Indian romance film produced by Anupchand Shah and Mahipatray Shah. The film directed by Narendra Suri in hindi language under the Rup Kamal Chitra company. The film was released on 8 March 1957.

The film was banned 10 days after its release because it was a plagiarized version of Knock on Wood. The producers of Knock on the Wood filed a copyright lawsuit in India. They won the case and the judge ordered all prints of Begunah to be destroyed.{{cite news |author= |date=November 13, 1957 |title=INDIAN FILM BARRED; Bombay Court Rules It Copy of a Paramount Picture |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/13/archives/indian-film-barred-bombay-court-rules-it-copy-of-a-paramount.html |work=The New York Times |location=Bombay, India |access-date=February 12, 2025 |url-access=subscription |page=43 |archive-date=March 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310180601/https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/13/archives/indian-film-barred-bombay-court-rules-it-copy-of-a-paramount.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Phukan |first=Vikram |date=October 14, 2017 |title=Lessons not learnt |url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/lessons-not-learnt/article19852464.ece |work=The Hindu |access-date=February 12, 2025 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=May 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240528041614/https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/lessons-not-learnt/article19852464.ece |url-status=live }}

References

Bibliography

{{cite book |last=Gehring |first=Wes D. |date=October 27, 2016 |title=Movie Comedians of the 1950s: Defining a New Era of Big Screen Comedy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5vJ7DQAAQBAJ |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=9781476626925 |access-date=February 13, 2025}}