{"id":13447,"date":"2010-11-18T09:33:48","date_gmt":"2010-11-18T16:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13447"},"modified":"2022-04-23T09:27:23","modified_gmt":"2022-04-23T16:27:23","slug":"me-and-the-colonel-1958","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13447","title":{"rendered":"Me and the Colonel (1958)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Strangely enough, we&#8217;re in the same business &#8212; the business of escaping.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Me-and-the-Colonel-Poster2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Me-and-the-Colonel-Poster2-300x237.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"237\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-66865\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Me-and-the-Colonel-Poster2-300x237.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Me-and-the-Colonel-Poster2-128x101.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Me-and-the-Colonel-Poster2-342x270.jpg 342w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Me-and-the-Colonel-Poster2.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nDuring WWII, a resourceful Jewish refugee (Danny Kaye) travels with an anti-semitic Polish officer (Curt Jurgens), the officer&#8217;s right-hand man (Akim Tamiroff), and the officer&#8217;s girlfriend (Nicole Maurey), who begins to fall in love with Kaye.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Akim Tamiroff Films<\/li>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Curt Jurgens Films<\/li>\n<li>Danny Kaye Films<\/li>\n<li>Escape<\/li>\n<li>Jews<\/li>\n<li>Love Triangle<\/li>\n<li>Play Adaptation<\/li>\n<li>Road Trip<\/li>\n<li>World War II<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nBased on <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Me_and_the_Colonel\">a play by Franz Werfel<\/a>, <em>Me and the Colonel<\/em> allowed Danny Kaye an opportunity to break (almost) completely from his characteristic cinematic persona as a hapless nebbish, and show off his dramatic chops. The story &#8212; much like Roberto Benigni&#8217;s award-winning <em>Life is Beautiful<\/em> (1997) &#8212; is meant to provide a gently comical slant on a devastating period in world history, tackling the sensitive topic of anti-semitism through humor and feel-good humanism. In this case, Kaye&#8217;s Jacobowsky (whose very name is repeated a bit too forcefully throughout the film, as though it offers inherent giggle-value) attempts to befriend (or at least not antagonize) the bigoted, bombastic Colonel Prokoszny (Curd Jurgens); the crux of the screenplay shows Jacobowsky repeatedly swallowing his pride in the name of pragmatism, as he utilizes his estimable survival skills to move his ad hoc group closer towards the border. It&#8217;s all a bit insufferably twee, and Jurgens&#8217; performance is irritatingly abrasive, offering little to no nuance in this critically important role. <\/p>\n<p>However, Kaye &#8212; who won a Golden Globe award as best actor &#8212; does a fine job, and surely must have been thrilled at this chance to tackle such an important cinematic topic. And Nicole Maurey is charming and believable in a challenging role as Jurgens&#8217; fiancee, who finds herself drawn towards Kaye &#8212; but the central love triangle conflict that plays itself out during the middle of the film (culminating in a comedic duel) fails to leave any impact. While it&#8217;s difficult to understand why Maurey fell for the two-timing Jurgens in the first place, it&#8217;s eminently clear that her &#8220;attraction&#8221; to Kaye is simply admiration for his resourcefulness and gentle charm, and never poses a real threat to Jurgens. By the film&#8217;s inevitable climactic denouement at the border, we&#8217;re marginally invested in these characters&#8217; survival, but can&#8217;t help wishing that the titular relationship offered more heft and realism. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Danny Kaye as Jacobowsky<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/me-and-the-colonel-kaye.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/me-and-the-colonel-kaye.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"341\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13449\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Nicole Maurey as Suzanne<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/me-and-the-colonel-maurey.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/me-and-the-colonel-maurey.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"341\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13450\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; this one isn&#8217;t must-see. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0051915\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1958\/08\/27\/archives\/danny-kaye-and-the-colonel-jacobowsky-is-stars-latest-surprise.html\">New York Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/allmovie.com\/work\/me-and-the-colonel-101962\">All Movie Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Strangely enough, we&#8217;re in the same business &#8212; the business of escaping.&#8221; Synopsis: During WWII, a resourceful Jewish refugee (Danny Kaye) travels with an anti-semitic Polish officer (Curt Jurgens), the officer&#8217;s right-hand man (Akim Tamiroff), and the officer&#8217;s girlfriend (Nicole Maurey), who begins to fall in love with Kaye. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Akim Tamiroff Films Comedy Curt Jurgens Films Danny Kaye Films Escape Jews Love Triangle Play Adaptation Road Trip World War II Review: Based on a play&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13447\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13447"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83262,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13447\/revisions\/83262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}