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The Inspector General

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6.4/10 • 51

1949-12-311h 41m

ComedyMusicRomance

The Kaye way to chaos and corruption.

An illiterate stooge in a traveling medicine show wanders into a strange town and is picked up on a vagrancy charge. The town's corrupt officials mistake him for the inspector general whom they think is traveling in disguise. Fearing he will discover they've been pocketing tax money, they make several bungled attempts to kill him.

Directors
Henry Koster
Editors
Rudi Fehr

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Danny Kaye

    Danny Kaye

    Georgi

  2. Walter Slezak

    Walter Slezak

    Yakov

  3. Barbara Bates

    Barbara Bates

    Leza

  4. Elsa Lanchester

    Elsa Lanchester

    Maria

  5. Gene Lockhart

    Gene Lockhart

    The Mayor

  6. Alan Hale

    Alan Hale

    Kovatch

  7. Walter Catlett

    Walter Catlett

    Colonel Castine

  8. Rhys Williams

    Rhys Williams

    Inspector General

  9. Benny Baker

    Benny Baker

    Telecki (uncredited)

Reviews1

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John Chard Avatar

John Chard

Mar 25, 2020

7/10

Oh, I have no wife. None of my family had wives. My father didn't like wives. I mean, my mother didn't like my father's wives. Danny Kaye was a wonderful performer, he would sing, dance, tell jokes, turn his face into rubber and just generally come off as a quality humanitarian. The Inspector General showcases all of those talents. Directed by Henry Koster, The Inspector General is loosely adapted from Nikolai Gogol's classic Russian story, and it finds Kaye as a stooge of Walter Slezak's iffy tonic peddler who is mistaken by iffy officials of a small Russian town for the much feared and respected Inspector General. Cue mistaken identity mayhem as the music numbers, gags, visual contortions and all round slapstick ensues. Also along for the ride are Elsa Lanchester, Alan Hale, Barbara Bates and Gene Lockhart. It's more a safe and solid Kaye movie for the family to enjoy, rather than a high end classic like The Court Jester, but sometimes the high energy jinks of Kaye is all you need to lift the blues away. 7/10

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  • The Inspector General poster
  • The Inspector General poster
  • The Inspector General poster
  • The Inspector General poster
  • The Inspector General poster
  • The Inspector General poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
corruptionescapemayorsnake oilmedicine show