IMDb RATING
7.1/10
2.1K
YOUR RATING
Danny Kaye cuts loose with his trademark musical clowning. Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong plays his horn and croons in that famed gargling-granite voice. Big Band icons Bob Crosby, Ray Anthony an... Read allDanny Kaye cuts loose with his trademark musical clowning. Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong plays his horn and croons in that famed gargling-granite voice. Big Band icons Bob Crosby, Ray Anthony and Shelly Manne join the fun.Danny Kaye cuts loose with his trademark musical clowning. Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong plays his horn and croons in that famed gargling-granite voice. Big Band icons Bob Crosby, Ray Anthony and Shelly Manne join the fun.
- Nominated for 4 Oscars
- 2 wins & 8 nominations total
Eric Alden
- Musician
- (uncredited)
Babette Bain
- Rehabilitation Patient
- (uncredited)
Bill Baldwin
- Announcer
- (uncredited)
Sheryn Banks
- Girl at Birthday Party
- (uncredited)
Earl Barton
- Choreographer
- (uncredited)
Henry Beau
- Undetermined Secondary Role
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhile Danny Kaye worked hard to be able to accurately fake playing cornet (he practiced for months learning the fingering of the instrument), it was the real Red Nichols who provided all of the cornet playing for Kaye in this movie.
- GoofsAfter Red and Willa have left the club and are traveling home, the cars seen through the rear window of the taxicab are distinctly 1940's to 1950's vehicles which were nonexistent in 1924.
- Quotes
Louis Armstrong: Excuse it, folks. Somebody must have put alcohol in our liquor.
- ConnectionsFeatured in American Masters: Danny Kaye: A Legacy of Laughter (1996)
- SoundtracksThe Five Pennies
(1959)
Words and Music by Sylvia Fine
Sung by Danny Kaye (uncredited) to Dorothy
Performed by Eileen Wilson (uncredited) at the comeback show
Featured review
Sentimental biography of a famous jazzman , Red Nichols, stars Danny Kaye paying tribute to this great musician by providing a terrific acting and whose traumatic private life was a little shocking for Hollywood standards . Along the way , there appears Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong who plays his horn and croons in that famed gargling-granite voice. Other famous horn players and Big Band icons as Bob Crosby, Ray Anthony and Shelly Manne join the fun.
The plot is plain and simple , an engaging biographic chronicle , featuring perormances from legendary musicians as Bob Crosby, , Bobby Troup , Ray Anthony , Luis Armstrong and Red Nichols magnificently played by Danny Kaye who cuts loose with his trademark musical clowning . The film is a Danny Kaye recital , he plays his horn , sings ,and puts some faces and grimaces . Sylvia Fine , Kaye's wife , is the lyricist , composer , besides associate producer and dialogs writer , and responsible for many of the best known musical routines and songs for her husband . This is a mirth as well as melancholic rhapsody in which the duo starring : Danny Kaye as the extraordinary jazzman and Barbara Bel Geddes as the woman who he loved , both of whom giving awesome performance . An engaging and charming film , though tends to be overlong and slow-moving at times , concerning a dramatic portrayal of a horn player who fights to fill his need for music , while becomes trapped in some dramatic misfortunes . Accompanying them a lot of wonderful of secondary actors and musicians , such as : Harry Guardino , Bob Crosby, Bobby Troup , Susan Gordon , Ray Anthony, Shelly Manne and a teen Tuesday Weld. What the script lacks in originality is amply made up for the extraordinary music and outstanding cast . Highlights the moving musical score by composer Leith Stevens and colorful cinematography by Daniel L. Fapp , while enjoyable apperance by Louis Armstrong make it a must-see for Jazz enthusiasts .
This musical drama was competently made by one of the best Golden Hollywood directors , Melville Shavelson. His movies have a special penchant for recapturing a particular atmosphere , many of this movies are about real people but they remain muted in impact . A notorious screenwriter , Bob Hope and Danny Kaye features Shavelson's movies when he became filmmaker and his films with them are the most successful such as : ¨The seven tittle Foys¨ , Beau James¨, ¨On the Double¨ and ¨Five pennies¨ . Shavelson's later pictures were made for TV and mostly biographies as ¨The great Houdini¨ , ¨Ike¨, ¨Ike : the war years¨, and ¨The legend of Valentino¨ which remains the best work on the subject to date . Two of the best films resulted to be ¨¨Cast a giant shadow¨ , an epic movie with all-star-cast dealing with the birth of Israel and one of his biggest hits was ¨Yours , mine and ours¨. The Five Pennies (1959) rating : 7/10 . Better than average. The flick will appeal to Jazz lovers and Danny Kaye, Louis Armstrong fans.
The plot is plain and simple , an engaging biographic chronicle , featuring perormances from legendary musicians as Bob Crosby, , Bobby Troup , Ray Anthony , Luis Armstrong and Red Nichols magnificently played by Danny Kaye who cuts loose with his trademark musical clowning . The film is a Danny Kaye recital , he plays his horn , sings ,and puts some faces and grimaces . Sylvia Fine , Kaye's wife , is the lyricist , composer , besides associate producer and dialogs writer , and responsible for many of the best known musical routines and songs for her husband . This is a mirth as well as melancholic rhapsody in which the duo starring : Danny Kaye as the extraordinary jazzman and Barbara Bel Geddes as the woman who he loved , both of whom giving awesome performance . An engaging and charming film , though tends to be overlong and slow-moving at times , concerning a dramatic portrayal of a horn player who fights to fill his need for music , while becomes trapped in some dramatic misfortunes . Accompanying them a lot of wonderful of secondary actors and musicians , such as : Harry Guardino , Bob Crosby, Bobby Troup , Susan Gordon , Ray Anthony, Shelly Manne and a teen Tuesday Weld. What the script lacks in originality is amply made up for the extraordinary music and outstanding cast . Highlights the moving musical score by composer Leith Stevens and colorful cinematography by Daniel L. Fapp , while enjoyable apperance by Louis Armstrong make it a must-see for Jazz enthusiasts .
This musical drama was competently made by one of the best Golden Hollywood directors , Melville Shavelson. His movies have a special penchant for recapturing a particular atmosphere , many of this movies are about real people but they remain muted in impact . A notorious screenwriter , Bob Hope and Danny Kaye features Shavelson's movies when he became filmmaker and his films with them are the most successful such as : ¨The seven tittle Foys¨ , Beau James¨, ¨On the Double¨ and ¨Five pennies¨ . Shavelson's later pictures were made for TV and mostly biographies as ¨The great Houdini¨ , ¨Ike¨, ¨Ike : the war years¨, and ¨The legend of Valentino¨ which remains the best work on the subject to date . Two of the best films resulted to be ¨¨Cast a giant shadow¨ , an epic movie with all-star-cast dealing with the birth of Israel and one of his biggest hits was ¨Yours , mine and ours¨. The Five Pennies (1959) rating : 7/10 . Better than average. The flick will appeal to Jazz lovers and Danny Kaye, Louis Armstrong fans.
- How long is The Five Pennies?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 57 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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