The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

I've come to the belief that Danny Kaye is an acquired taste, his early films quite funny yet some of the themes going way overboard to be over the heads of adolescents. His pairing with wife Sylvia Fine was a teaming of one of the great satirist writers and portrayer of those type of parts. In this very upscale comedy spoof of spy movies, he shows his meddle as he goes back into the territory of his early 1940's Broadway hit, "Lady in the Dark", as he goes into therapy to discover the reasons why he has allowed his romantic pairings to be destroyed by his ventriloquist dummy. Psycho analyst Mai Zetterling seems to have ulterior motives for taking his case, possibly being involved in the spy ring that hid secret documents in his dummy.A serious atmosphere takes this way above the typical Bob Hope spy vehicle. There's no time for nonsense, and other than the occasional patter song, this is more plot oriented than normal, making it frequently suspenseful as well as ironic in its underplayed humor. Kaye provides a variety of accents, making it obvious as to why he was one of the most popular comics among adults and children who would have to see this again on T.V. later on to further understand it. Ironically released the same year as Hus big Paramount musical "White Christmas" opposite Bing Crosby, he had the honor of sharing with Bing two quite different performances other than that overrated Christmas perennial. Bing, nominated for an Oscar for "The Country Girl", is equally matched by Danny in this. The intelligent story got an Oscar nomination, and Kaye certainly ranks as among the best performances of 1954.

The story of the ventriloquist's dummy who develops a personality all its own has been used any number of times. Two times when it was used seriously the ventriloquists were Cliff Robertson on the Twilight Zone and Michael Redgrave in Dead Of Night. But Danny Kaye managed to use it for laughs in Knock On Wood.Every time Kaye gets close to a girl to start talking seriously of marriage, his second persona through the dummy takes over and cooks the deal for good. Kaye's agent David Burns suggests some consultation with a psychiatrist Steven Geray. And then Geray consults a consultant and the consultant psychiatrist turns out to be Mai Zetterling.That's how romances start with comics, especially movie comics. But even Zetterling is ready to commit him when all kind of strange things happen. Two parts of the design of a secret weapon get hidden both of Kaye's dummies Clarence and Terrence. And two different sets of spies get a hold of the parts. One is held by Leon Askin and the second held by international man of mystery Torin Thatcher.Things start happening around Kaye that he and no one else can explain so it's not unnatural for mental health professionals to think he's off his rocker. But so does law enforcement in several countries.Knock On Wood is not as good as so many of Kaye's films, still his fans should like it. Best is the ballet sequences where in trying to elude the police who want him for a homicide and the spies who just want him dead, Danny fouls up a ballet that his former girlfriend is starring in. What a way to put a coda on a breakup. Of course Danny was to reach the height of his career with his next two films White Christmas and The Court Jester. Knock On Wood is good, but just an interlude in Danny's career.

This, in my opinion, is one of Kaye's funniest performances, showcasing his comedic, singing, and dancing talents to the fullest. Not to be missed is the movie's finale, where Kaye finds himself on the stage of a London ballet as the leading dancer while simultaneously trying to escape from the baddies.

There is a scene in KNOCK ON WOOD in which Danny Kaye, trying to escape from the London police, finds himself backstage during an overly dramatic Russian ballet, and soon enough, is onstage, heavy-footedly trying to blend into the scene without being spotted by the police in the audience. The result is the single best spoof of ballet the live side of animation (with "Dance of the Hours" in FANTASIA being its cartoon match). I actually saw Danny Kaye do this routine onstage at the Palace Theatre in New York where, great though it was, the closeups provided by the movie camera make the film version even more hilarious. Kaye is one of the most underrated actors of all time. This movie shows his brilliance and range. His facial expressions are as brilliantly comic as Sid Caesar's, and the two of them leave the rest of the pack far behind. (Is Robin Williams a distant third?) KNOCK ON WOOD is uneven. It's not the most perfectly realized Kaye film--that honor goes either to SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY or COURT JESTER. The latter, being a musical, maybe is the best. COURT JESTER is overall funnier than KNOCK ON WOOD, but no scene in it comes close to the ballet spoof.