The Five Pennies (1959)

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Film Perfection

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Very loosely based on the life of Red Nichols whose career blossomed in the 1920s but faltered in about 1932. The music is OK, if not great, but the family saga is depressing. It's poorly paced, and not well written nor well directed. The photography seems flat. The narrative starts reasonably, but declines from about the mid-point and towards the end. Kaye's scene persuading his little daughter to go to sleep goes on far too long. In a sense the whole movie is predicated on the failure of the parents to look after their daughter properly. The final scene tries to be upbeat, but isn't. Louis Armstrong makes a powerful impression, as always. Barbara Bel Geddes is appealing, but Danny Kaye just seems miscast. The male supporting cast of characters make no impression at all, and are interchangeable. The young girls playing the Nichols daughter are adequate. How did this receive four Oscar nominations ? Brooklyn and Ogden, Utah, have connotations which amuse Americans, but which don't travel.

In his career Danny Kaye played two real life people in biographical films. One was Hans Christian Andersen, the second was Ernest Lorring 'Red' Nichols in The Five Pennies. Nichols was a redhead and with his flaming carrot top Danny Kaye was only one of two people that could have done the role, the other being Red Buttons.The real Red Nichols was a jazz pioneer who played Dixieland with a lot of the great musicians of the time. The film sticks pretty close to the facts of his life. Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman all did play with his band and all became legends of their own. The part that Harry Guardino plays as Tony Valenti in real life was a gentleman named Miff Mole who was Nichols best friend and fellow organizer of his Dixieland group. According to the Wikipedia article on Nichols he never stuck with only five musicians, but always kept that band name while he led it. Probably there was more of Danny Kaye than the real Red Nichols in The Five Pennies. But for those of us who are big fans of his that's all right too. Danny's wife and collaborator Sylvia Fine contributed a few songs for him and some jazz standards are interpolated.It is absolutely true that Nichols did leave the music business for a while when his daughter contracted polio. The daughter is played by Susan Gordon and Tuesday Weld at various ages and Barbara Bel Geddes gives some good support as his loyal and faithful wife.No film about Dixieland would have been complete without Louis Armstrong making an appearance. That impromptu jam session with Armstrong wailing out Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey is a solid sender with the real Red Nichols playing with Danny Kaye miming the effect. Just like Harry James did for Kirk Douglas in Young Man With A Horn.Certainly with Red Nichols doing the trumpet for Kaye his seal of approval on the film is without saying. As they did say in Nichols line of work, this film is a solid sender.

Danny Kaye is known for his comic roles; for his laughter, his singing, his dancing, his light-hearted humor. But this movie presents a different Danny Kaye - serious, brooding, consumed with guilt, confronted by really serious problems - and here Danny Kaye shines. This movie is proof that if he had to, Danny Kaye could have been one of the greatest dramatic actors in the history of motion pictures. There is no question about that. In this movie, Kaye puts aside the clowning to play a subdued, moody and introspective character who nevertheless is still likable and worthy of attention. And it works! In the movie he wins over the audience, he wins over his family, he wins over his friends. And who can ever forget the scene with Louis Armstrong? Kaye's character overcomes all obstacles to triumph and to be loved. Only a highly skilled and sensitive actor could have done the job, and in this movie Danny Kaye proved that he had the requisite qualities to transform what could have been little more than a sudsy soap opera into a powerful statement about a man who, along with his family, not only survives but sets an example for others. For this reason, this movie is a powerful and compelling work of art.

This is the sentimental biography of the life of Ernest Loring (Red) Nichols, a trumpeter/band leader during the 1930's. Danny Kaye does a great job playing Red and Barbara Belgeddes plays his wife, Bobbie. Tuesday Weld plays his daughter, Dorothy. The movie follows Red through his career as a great jazz trumpeter who gives up music for family. A must see for Danny Kaye and Big Band fans. Some of the members of Red's "Five Pennies", as his band was known, were Glenn Miller and Jimmy Dorsey. Louis Armstrong puts on a stellar musical performance as himself. Red Nichols does the trumpet solos. Great music, good family viewing.