Cubussoli
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Lucybespro
It is a performances centric movie
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
JohnnyLee1
Delightful fantasy - or is it? Would love to have given it more stars (for Danny Kaye's performance) but the story is too simple for a 150 mins movie. Based on a short story, not a novel.
Leofwine_draca
THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY is an amiable, imaginative comic fantasy starring everyone's favourite jester, Danny Kaye. Kaye plays an ordinary and rather boring fellow who escapes the humdrum of modern life by venturing into various fantasies where he's always cast as the hero, rescuing damsels in distress and defeating nefarious enemies.Unfortunately for him, soon reality and fantasy begin to collide when he meets a classic Hitchcock femme fatale who propels him into a world of murder and intrigue. What follows is a riotous 'wronged man' style comedy with plenty of slapstick and broad shenanigans to recommend it. Overall this is a colourful and lively production, boosted by Kaye's endless energy and the interesting casting of key roles, like the excellent Boris Karloff as a sinister psychiatrist.The only flaws here for me were the actual fantasy sequences themselves, particularly the early ones. Some of them feel quite twee and dated and seem go on on forever, like when Kaye's singing that stupid song. It feels like they're there for padding rather than any proper reason. Still, THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY works much better when it's taking place in the real world, and that slapstick is hard to dislike.
grantss
The original, and best (the 2013 version doesn't come close). Great story, well told. What takes it to a new level, however, is the performance of Danny Kaye. He is superb in the role of Walter Mitty: hilariously funny, especially in the day dream skits. While the dialogue is incredibly sharp and funny, you can't imagine anyone else delivering the lines so incisively. His slapstick stuff is also something to behold.So funny and original you can actually see the influence (direct or otherwise) of Kaye's performance on acts like The Goon Show, Monty Python, Robin Williams, and even Michael Richards (esp as Kramer in Seinfeld). Rest of the cast put in solid performances. Virginia Mayo is particularly good, and beautiful, as Rosalind van Hoorn. However, the supporting cast are just the straight men to Kaye's antics. He IS the movie.Only negative is that it does get a bit too silly and farcical towards the end, in the real life parts. The day dream stuff is brilliant and there the movie doesn't put a single foot wrong.
TheLittleSongbird
Ever since seeing him in Hans Christian Andersen when I was 8 or so(a film I still love) I've liked Danny Kaye a lot, and feel that like many commentators here that he is deserving of more attention. He is wonderful in The Secret of Walter Mitty, one of his best performances and quite possibly his most endearing. His antics are genuinely funny and he is charming in a way that comes naturally to him and is conveyed just as much to the audience. He has a fine supporting cast too, Virginia Mayo is astonishingly beautiful and as likable as Kaye, Ann Rutherford is charming and naïve, Boris Karloff plays cool and subtly sinister to perfection, Florence Bates is wholly convincing in overbearing mode and Thurston Hall is appropriately blustery without overdoing it. The Secret of Walter Mitty looks beautiful, the scenery is bursting with colour and vibrancy and the photography is expertly. The music fits with the action and comedy very well indeed, and the songs are catchy and a lot of fun. The best being Anatole of Paris though Symphony for Unstrung Tongues has some great lyrics/lines and is interesting for future director Robert Altman as an extra. The writing is witty and infectious, it never feels forced or mushy and it holds up well today too. The story is sweet and instantly lovable, children will be spellbound and amused by the dream sequences especially. Overall, a wonderful film with Kaye on top form. If you want to get acquainted with him or see what the fuss is about, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a great place to start. 10/10 Bethany Cox
