Alternate Best Actor 1958: Danny Kaye in Me and the Colonel

Danny Kaye did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite winning the Golden Globe, for portraying Samuel L. Jacobowsky in Me and the Colonel. 

Me and the Colonel, is not a flawless, but overall an effective comedic thriller about a Jewish Polish refugee escaping the Nazis along with an antisemitic Polish officer (Curd Jürgens). 

What makes the film IS Danny Kaye, an actor I don't think I've given enough credit to it seems, and perhaps should seek out more of his work, because as much as I got a kick out of him in The Court Jester, this performance here suggests a greater talent than was already on display there. This is against type, though not entirely against genre for Kaye. In that so much of this has the elements of a dramatic performance and it is a dramatic performance in many ways. Kaye doesn't play the Kaye persona of the hapless, though likable, hero, but rather very specifically this Jewish man trying to escape the Nazis with his life intact during World War II. Kaye purposefully reduces his physical manner into a much quiet quality of a man who modestly makes his way through life. it isn't a put on though it is just something you wholly believe. Kaye's accent work is subtle, but terrific in just helping to establish this man, while also successfully taking you away from the expected Kaye. You believe Kaye as this Jewish man who had quietly been living in Europe before he had to flee. He is just Samuel L. Jacobowsky, and with such a specific presence that is like Kaye's, that is an impressive achievement all on its own. 

Kaye's performance is kind of a challenge though in already readjusting himself to be a different man than you know him for, there's more than just the surface of the man. Kaye's eyes are not the eyes of the hapless hero, but rather the man who has been through much. Early in the film he discusses having gone from one place to another to escape persecution, and only found in each situation that he had to run to escape the Nazis. There is a genuine quiet sadness in Kaye's eyes that speaks to the struggle he's been through, even as he delivers this speech with a certain comedic undercurrent of someone who can't quite believe the situation he's found himself in. And that is the true brilliance of this performance. Kaye clearly before this film was someone who knew how to be funny in such a big way, with his patter songs, and just his outgoing energy that is larger than life. This is a subversion of that even though it is so specifically connected to that idea, but Kaye reworks it to be down to earth, yet still so endearing and often so funny. Because what Kaye does instead of portraying a man who exists in a comical world, in an overtly comical way, he shows instead a man who deals with the real world, and is in the real world, but treats it as a comedy. 

Kaye's portrayal of Samuel is with a wry wit, and switches in form, as someone who sees the world as it is, and can't help but laugh a little at his predicament. Kaye is pitch perfect in the way he works the tone because his performance is very amusing, but it is specifically with this quiet observational manner of someone who sees the absurdities of the world and merely points them out. He's not absurd, rather in some ways he's the one thing who is not, but he sees the world for the absurdity it is. And Kaye masters this approach in just being able to cut through every scene by making every line of Samuel's this sharp knife of wisdom that often are comedic, but also always feel absolutely honest to this man's nature. His observations throughout make him so endearing because you see the wisdom in the words right along with the humor of the specific observation each time. Kaye is just so natural in making this lower key comedy just work with such ease. And it is this ideal he achieves because he's comic without comical, and he's also kind of dramatic without being dramatic. He's both and neither, and just is wonderful I think is probably the best way to put it. 

Now the film works because of Kaye, if it wasn't for Kaye, and there was just a slightly less deft performance in the role, the film would fall flat because Jürgens is so inconsistent in his performance, that swings between okay dramatic moments and completely over the top moments, that it would've been easy to lose the stakes, or seem almost too perfunctory in its execution. Kaye though comes in with this unique hero brought to life by his talents. We follow him as Kaye gets to do so much, while still being reserved. In that Samuel is extremely intelligent, and while he won't be violent to win, he can use his mind to find things he needs to keep going. And Kaye brings to life this keen eye in every moment and the sense of the man who thinks through his situation and finds the work around. One such way is through his charm, where Kaye is so naturally sweet in the role, that you believe him in conning out a resource, or winning over the love interest of both men, a French local Suzanne (Nicole Maurey). In both instances, Kaye doesn't ever force a moment, he rather glides, and you believe the ease of the glide in Kaye's hands. He convinces you of the change in the relationship with the Colonel, more so than his co-star, because Kaye's sincerity, even when often showing how dumb the Colonel is in his comments, is impossible to resist. Yet even more than that, when the film builds its tensions towards the end, and it seems like both men might be caught by the Nazis, Kaye alters his performance just enough and just again so naturally, to convey the rise in tension as the sense of possible real loss comes within his eyes. This is fantastic work from Danny Kaye, that suggests maybe we just skimmed the surface of his talents, or at least maybe I have.