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Tarfumes.com - Secret Life of Walter Mitty
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List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $22.47
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
Starring: Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Boris Karloff, Fay Bainter, Ann Rutherford
Directed By: Norman Z. McLeod
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302215731
Format: Color
ISBN: 6302215730
Label: Hbo Home Video
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
Publisher: Hbo Home Video
Release Date: 1995-02-21
Running Time: 110
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1947-09-01
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Editorial Reviews:
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If there's one movie Danny Kaye fans fondly remember, it's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The versatile comedian--also an unsurpassed song-and-dance man--plays a henpecked, thriller-genre book writer suddenly enmeshed in a real adventure involving the (literal) girl of his dreams (Virginia Mayo). Initially criticized for not staying true to the more melancholic sensibility of author James Thurber's original story (Thurber allegedly offered producer Samuel Goldwyn $10,000 to not make the film), it not only works as an independent story, but remains highly entertaining and wears well upon repeated viewing. Kaye's milquetoast Walter fantasizes distractedly about being heroic, whether a gunslinger, an Air Force pilot, or a riverboat gambler. His "Anatole of Paris" number, in which Walter fancies himself a French hat designer who, in the end, declares he hates women, is nothing short of brilliant. That number, like many of Kaye's trademark patter deliveries, was penned by his wife, Sylvia Fine. Kaye benefits from a wonderful supporting cast: Mayo; Boris Karloff as maniacal Dr. Hugo Hollingshead; Faye Bainter as Walter's repressive but lively mother; Ann Rutherford as his suspicious fiancée Gertrude; and Gordon Jones as Tubby, who not only has designs on Gertrude, but provides the villain in Walter's fantasies. --N.F. Mendoza
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: What Causes Daydreams?
Comment: This film was inspired by the short stories of James Thurber. Walter Mitty drives to the train station in a small NJ town that resembles southern California. Mitty works for a publishing company in Manhattan that prints racy detective stories and other popular magazines (classified as "escapist" literature). Mitty's daydreams are interspersed with his real life. An imagined operation has comic touches. His fiance's dog doesn't trust him. His furnace has logs that burn quickly (unlike in the real world). Mitty's comic musician seems quite outdated. On his morning train he meets a strange woman who ask for his help. Mitty's life quickly becomes complicated, far more than in any daydream. He has become involved in dangerous situation. Will he survive?
The story continues with comic scares and scenes. They now seek a missing notebook that was placed into a woman's corset. Scenes switch from reality to fantasy. Does Mitty need a psychiatrist? Does his job affect his imagination? The film runs on with more scenes of comic terror. At the end there is a surprise. This film tells what Hollywood thought would please customers. Did it? This isn't a good parody of suspense thrillers where an ordinary man stumbles into danger.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Pure Entertainment
Comment: For you Danny Kaye fans, well you know all about this anyway. For those looking for a good family movie, this is it. Perhaps not Kayes best work, but near the top. Great screen adaptation of Thurbers short story. Movie stands alone and is easily identified with by us "dreamers" out here. Do recommend a read of the original short story for a more complete understanding of where this character came from and how well Kaye protrays this mild mannered man and brings him to life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Slightly faded
Comment: When I saw this in 1947 or '48 I thought it was more hilarious than anything I'd ever seen before. I thought the same of Up in Arms, Knock on Wood, The Court Jester, and all Kaye vehicles. I must have been more innocent in those far-off days, and, sadly, it is now not quite as good as I then thought it; in fact, memory had enhanced the classic scenes and the dream sequences had got even better over time, so that when I saw them again they were faintly disappointing. Still, anyone viewing the film for the first time should find it hugely enjoyable; and it is famous enough for the Walter Mitty Syndrome to have entered the language. The Thurber story is a greater work of art, and it is unsurprising that he disliked the way his wistful and ironic little invention had become distorted. The most memorable parts of the film were those wonderful, heroic fantasies: "I'm taking her through: my arm is broken, but it's nothing"; "Ach, Himmel, it is Valter der Mitty: I'm done for"; Walter "Slim" Mitty (the Mitty Kid) "I wouldn't do that if I were you"; "Coreopsis has set in"; "Swallow 'em up, ole Mississippi --- mah regiment leaves at dawn"; but none of them quite matched up to the way I remembered them. Too bad --- it's still a classic, and I won't be garnering too many votes in agreement. Kaye was still some sort of genius, though.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fearless Dreamer
Comment: Danny kaye was a gifted physical comedian and Walter Mitty is one of his best roles. He dreams because his life is not too exciting. I think lots of people can relate to this. Walter is brave when in his real life he is not. Then he meets Virginia Mayo (a beautiful blonde) who just happens to be his dream girl come alive. The story is universal and makes the viewer laugh 90% of the time. For all ages. Terrific!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Danny Kaye Shines as Thurber Gets The Goldwyn Treatment
Comment: While WONDER MAN and THE COURT JESTER might be more consistently wacky, I thought THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (TSLoWM) brought out the vulnerable side of Danny Kaye, one of my faves since childhood (I never missed any of Kaye's movies on WPIX when I was growing up). It usually gets on my nerves when I see movie characters allowing themselves to be as put-upon and henpecked as Kaye's Walter is here, but there was a sweetness about him that made me root for him instead of merely growling, "Oh, tell 'em all to go to hell already" -- and as a result, it's that much more satisfying when Walter finally does tell off his obnoxious so-called friends and loved ones (unlike such "comedies of cruelty" as MADHOUSE, where the last 10 minutes of Revenge Against The Oppressors are the only entertaining parts of the movie)! Although James Thurber, another of my faves, reportedly tried to buy off producer Samuel Goldwyn to keep the film from being made and hated the finished product, I think perhaps Thurber wasn't being quite fair. First off, books and film have different storytelling requirements, and second, the first 10 minutes are almost straight from Thurber's story (except it's Walter and his nagging mom instead of a nagging wife), and it seemed to me that the characters and performances had very Thurberesque qualities about them. Boris Karloff and Konstantin Shayne are delightfully unctuous villains (Fun Fact: their henchman, Henry Corden, later became the voice of Fred Flintstone!). As Walter's literal and figurative dream girl Rosalind van Hoorn, frequent Kaye co-star Virginia Mayo was thoroughly beguiling and never looked lovelier (and hey, the radiant Mayo was a size 12 and nobody considered *her* a "plus size," thank you very much! :-). TSLoWM also contains two of my favorite Kaye/Sylvia Fine musical numbers: "Symphony for Unstrung Tongue" (am I the only one who finds the line "He gets so excited that he has a solo passage" to be subtly salacious? :-) and "Anatole of Paris." To top it all off, it takes place primarily in my hometown and favorite city, New York City, and is set in one of my favorite milieus, pulp magazine publishing! My hubby and I like to think that Uncle Peter's grand home must be located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, where we used to live, since it looks like the kind of houses we used to see while walking around in the Fieldston area and it didn't seem to take horrifically long for Walter and Rosalind to drive there from the Flatiron district of Manhattan! :-) (Interestingly, the interior of the van Hoorn home looks a lot like the interior of evil Bruno Anthony's home in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN; anybody know if these scenes might have been shot in the same house/set?) I wish the DVD extras had included deleted scenes (there's a bit in the trailer with Karloff and Corden in a pub that I definitely don't recall seeing in the finished film), but it was nice to see Virginia Mayo still alive and well (and bigger than "size 12," but on her it's pleasant plumpness, in my opinion! :-) in the intro and outro, even though she only had time to say one line about most of her co-stars ("Ann Rutherford was delightful...Fay Bainter was a consummate actress...").
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