Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

A delightful comedy-fantasy showcasing the many talents of Danny Kaye in James Thurber's popular short-story, although it's interesting that the author didn't want it filmed and apparently hated Kaye in the lead.And so what, says I! Yes, helmsman Norman Z MacLeod, perhaps worn down from his days as the director of the Marx Brothers in the 30's, does indulge his star a little too much by unnecessarily giving him two lengthy patter-songs which while highlighting his tongue- twisting and accent-mangling skills, nonetheless don't belong in the film and likewise our hero's pratfall goofiness is overdone too.Nevertheless when, I suspect, Kaye sticks more to the script, there is some genuinely funny humour, often of the grown-up variety, like the scenes where Kaye's Mitty attempts to intercept the delivery of a corset (containing the Maguffin of the mysterious little black book listing Dutch art treasures pursued by a German criminal mastermind) to an unknown female with a suitably large and jealous husband, Virginia Mayo undressing to her slip after being out in the rain and the funny exchange where Mitty is convinced by evil psychologist Boris Karloff that he sees fully-dressed women instead in bathing-suits. Along the way, the movie gently satirises the then fashionably popular pulp-fiction magazine business, international women's fashion and of course various movie genres in Mitty's various day-dreams and it's in the latter that the film is most successful and funny.The pleasing conclusion where Mitty finally comes out of his shell and bites back at everyone that's trodden over him in the past from his mother on down is slightly let down however by a pointless final scene where Mitty at last gets his overdue promotion, but I won't hold that against it. Kaye and Mayo, here teamed for the third of four movies, combine delightfully and are well backed by their supporting cast, especially Karloff spoofing his horror-movie past. Filmed in glowing Technicolour around contemporary post-war New York, (even if some of the location shots are clearly processed), this is a vibrant, funny feature from Hollywood's Golden Age.

I gave this film a '4' for Technicolor. Otherwise, it would be a '3.' Danny Kaye, like Jerry Lewis, has never been a favorite of mine; same with The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, etc. I don't care for slapstick.Had the antics of Danny Kaye been eliminated from the film it would have been improved upon. Author, James Thurber didn't like Kaye nor the music. Thurber's short story is void of music and Kaye isn't a good songster.I saw this film when it opened in 1947. I was barely six years old, fell asleep toward the end and missed the part where Walter actually was NOT fantasizing; no big deal - I still hate the film 66 years later. I also daytime and nighttime dream but write them down and turn them into narrative. I sell enough to supplement my measly social security benefit which I paid for during 45 years of an internal audit career. With a college degree, CPA/CIA, I get $18,000 a year on social security with a recent 1.5% increase for 2014. Throw a dog a bone. Back then, we sent our kids to college, vacationed, bought new cars and spent our money enjoying life. Social security and a small pension was supposed to be enough. Dream on, Walter Mitty.

James Thurber's whimsical day dreamer Walter Mitty was a perfect character for Danny Kaye to apply his many talents with. Make note however this is not film based on Thurber's short story, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, but the character is used to fashion a plot whereby this day dream believer gets into a real life adventure. And gets the girl one only dreams about.Poor henpecked Danny Kaye as Mitty works as a proofreader for publisher Thurston Hall who specializes in putting out pulp fiction works of adventure and romance. He's put upon by everyone, from his mother Fay Bainter to his girlfriend Ann Rutherford, her mother Florence Bates, his best 'friend' Gordon Jones and not the least by his boss Hall. His escape is in daydreaming and it's in these imaginary sequences that Kaye's real talents of singing and mimicry are given full range. During one of those sequences while at a fashion show Kaye does one of his most famous routines Anatole Of Paris.While on a train Kaye meets the beautiful girl of his dreams Virginia Mayo who is carrying some documents vital to her native Dutch government. And she's being pursued by the kind of international criminals that appear in James Bond or Austin Powers. Konstantin Shayne is the master criminal known only as 'the Boot' and he's assisted in his nefarious schemes by Boris Karloff. After he meets them poor Danny spends the rest of the film trying to help or rescue Virginia Mayo and convince the others in his life that he's in a real situation. The rest of his circle put his ravings down to an overactive imagination and he's even referred to a psychiatrist who turns out to be Boris Karloff. I'm not sure who was playing straight for who in the psychiatrist sequence, but it's funny nonetheless.It's not James Thurber. Thurber's story would be almost impossible to create accurately for the screen since it's all in his protagonist's mind. But as a character for Danny Kaye, Walter Mitty is a natural.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is directed by Norman Z. McLeod and adapted loosely to screenplay by Ken Englund and Everett Freeman from the short story of the same name written by James Thurber. It stars Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Boris Karloff, Fay Bainter, Thurston Hall, Ann Rutherford, Konstantin Shayne and Gordon Jones. A Technicoor production with music by Sylvia Fine (songs) and David Raskin (score) and cinematography by Lee Garmes.Milquetoast Walter Mitty (Kaye) escapes the incessant needling of those around him by dreaming up exciting adventures for himself. Upon meeting gorgeous Rosalind van Hoorn (Mayo) he gets thrust into a real adventure involving Dutch treasure, but this is real stuff and his life is under threat!A lovely Danny Kaye vehicle full of neatly constructed comedy, pleasant tunes and Technicolor supreme. It's too long at ten minutes shy of two hours, and non Kaye fans are unlikely to be converted, but for the fans this is a delightful way to spend an afternoon as the spy plot unfolds in a whirl of energised malarkey. Karloff a bonus as well. 7/10