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[Christoph Nestel]

What ever happened to this wonderful Kaye-comedy ? Although never released on video in Germany, in its excellent German-dubbed 1954 theatrical version (popular comic actor Georg Thomalla always did a great job as Dannys German voice) it is shown very often on TV here. In our country it has achieved high status as true and best beloved cult classic equal to THE COURT JESTER. German TV rights and German negative are owned by the Kirch Group, Munich. When I started trying to add the English language version to my collection I got very upset, when I had to learn that this genious masterpice seems to be almost forgotten in all English speaking countries. It was the first film produced by Kaye's own company Dena Productions (Dena was the name of Kaye's daughter). I believed world wide DVD & video rights to be owned by Paramount; but when I was asking there nobody knew anything about it at all. Danny Kaye himself considered it to be his best film. Truly the story about belly speaker Jerry Morgan and his jealous puppets Terence and Clarence, who hide the plans of the terrible weapon "Lafayette XV-27" several agents are behind (Gromeck, Brodnik, Brutchik), to me is one of the finest and funniest spy comedies ever filmed in movie history. Why has it completely dissapeared and our country seems to be the only one in which the film is still available and honoured today ?

[Ken Barnes]

Dear Christoph,

I fully agree with you about "Knock On Wood." It is top-notch Danny Kaye and certainly the equal of "The Court Jester." The idea of ventriloquist Danny having an identity crisis with his two dummys is an ingenius steal from the 1945 British class "Dead of Night" in which Michael Redgrave gave a terrifying performance as a ventriloquist gone mad. Danny is equally brilliant in conveying the double frustration of having two dummies taking over his life.

I think the most hilarious moment in "Knock On Wood" is the scene when he is under the table while the two spies are conversing and scratching their knees. A sequence of pure comic genius.

Like you, I don't understand why this film has been neglected. Maybe it's because Danny Kaye himself is neglected these days. Thanks for reminding me of this outstanding film. I'll see if I can raise some interest in Paramount to do something about this movie. It would make a wonderful DVD. However, I'm off to New York next week and won't be back for two or three weeks. I'll see what I can do when I get back.

[Christoph Nestel]

Dear Ken,

Thanks for your message. There is a Code-1 release of THE COURT JESTER and due to my knowledge next year the Code 2-edition will be released by Paramount in several European countries including Britain and Germany. I guess KNOCK ON WOOD would be just the same success. It has also some great singing and dancing. Surely it would be a huge favour to many people if you would manage to convince Paramount about a DVD. When you look at various Danny Kaye internet sites you'll find many people searching for it. I still watch it several times a year.

Of course DEAD OF NIGHT is one of the finest examples of British horror from the 40s. May be some people don't know that there is already a DVD. In France it has been issued by Studio Canal+ under its French title AU COEUR DE LA NUIT. The disc contains both the original English and French dubbing and it is available e.g. at
http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/AS...7198843-6575339
Perhaps there will be a British disc issued in future, too. But as the Ealing Library is owned by Canal+ today, it surely will be just the same as the French one (it's the same e.g. with PEEPING TOM, which has been released in Britain and France by Studio Canal). Unfortunately there are no trailer and no extras. Nevertheless I was very happy about ist. Anchor Bay has announced a Code 1-disc for 2003 (they usually take the Canal+ masters, but may be they add special features).

Here is a full review of the disc from a French site translated into English via google:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.devildead.com%2Fdeadofnight45%2Fdeadofnight45.htm&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

Best wishes,

Christoph