Danny Kaye was one of the preeminent film comedians of the 20th century. He was Jim Carey, but with more talent. He was able to get laughs by his expressions. He also was able to sing and dance. His movies usually feature a character with whom the audience can sympathize. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is no exception.
Danny Kaye plays Walter Mitty. He is a man who is a proofreader, for Pierce publishing. The company is run by Bruce Pierce; Mitty’s tyrannical boss. The company publishes adventure stories, which help fuel Mitty’s daydreams. He needs these, to escape from his work life and home life. His home life is his mother, Eunice, (Faye Bainter), being overprotective, and overbearing, and his demanding fiancée Gertrude Grisold, (Ann Rutherford).
Mitty’s daydreams are in vivid technicolor. They are him as a ship’s captain, weathering a bad storm, a beloved RAF officer, among others. The RAF officer imitates a music professor he had. This shows Kayes talent to do goofy things on screen. He also plays a riverboat gambler. It is while he is daydreaming that his car jumps the curb. This gets him a lecture from his mother, who is a passenger.
Walter Mitty’s mundane life has a rapid turnaround, when he meets Rosalind van Hoorn (Virginia Mayo). He gets in a cab with her, and her uncle. They are being chased by spies looking for a hidden Dutch treasure. Rosalind van Hoorn’s uncle has been fatally stabbed, and collapses in the cab. Mitty goes to the police, to report it. They investigate, but the cab, the body and the mysterious woman are gone. The police think Mitty is crazy, but he is insistent.
Mitty later runs into Rosalind, and she explains everything. He helps her, and is pursued by the spies as well as a killer/ psychiatrist, Dr. Hugo Hollingshead, (Boris Karloff). This is a comic role for Karloff, but he plays it well. He was a very talented actor, who occasionally stepped out of horror roles. Even though Mitty bungles his way through his escapades, he manages to save the day. This earns him his boss’s respect, getting him promoted. It also gets him Rosalind’s heart, ending in marriage.
Norman Z. McLeod has put together a movie that could be termed, comic film noir. The chief difference is that it is in color, and film noir is in black and white. McLeod has handled Mitty’s daydreams very well. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty could have been just another comedy. It isn’t because star and director worked together, giving the audience a zany, entertaining film.