KNOCK ON WOOD
(Paramount-Dena Productions) NY filmgoer who realises when the lights go up that laughter has recently brought him to tears may expect
to be branded a sourpuss if he starts looking for faults. Okay, then, I'm a sourpuss; but let me explain that I began to wonder just how good Knock on Wood was when I realised there was none of it I'd specially want to see again. This is a funny: film with some very funny bits-Danny Kaye in a Hibernian gathering; a car with all the gadgets and Danny pressing every button but the right one; Danny) trapped between two pairs of legs under a desk, in a_ knee-scratching, hand-slapping routine. Other good ideas might have been carried further: Danny as a neurotic ventriloquist whose dummy is his alter ego is abandoned in favour of a spy story in which the dummy’s dumb. The songs and music are again by Sylvia Fine, but unless you like burlesque more than I do you'll find none of the song or dance numbers as good as the best in On the Riviera (which I liked very much and some other people didn’t); and there is nothing like Popo the Puppet. All this fault-finding comes from trying to explain things. Well, don’t let me put you off. I like Danny, we all like Danny, and even if some of the material he’s given to work with is substandard he manages to make Knock on Wood-TI say it again-a funny film. 4
BAROMETER FAIR TO FINE: "The Square Ring." FAIR: "Knock on Wood." FAIR: "The Magnet."
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19540827.2.41.1.2
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 788, 27 August 1954, Page 21
Word count
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265KNOCK ON WOOD New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 788, 27 August 1954, Page 21
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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