Danny Kaye was made to play such a role- a day-dreamer who eventually gets caught up in reality and must convince those he loves that what he is experiencing is true.Faye Bainter gets it right as the sweet, over-protective, yet over-bearing mother. Ann Rutherford is totally churlish as his fiancé, more concerned with her daughter, and Florence Bates is very good as her mother, sarcastic to the core.Walter's day-dreaming allows him to escape from his life of being forever bossed around by all. Thurston Hall shines as his boss, always ready to find fault, but accepting his ideas.Walter's dreams take him to being a top surgeon or an ace pilot. He finally gathers reality by becoming mixed up with Virginia Mayo, the girl of her dreams, who leads him to possible danger in exposing past Nazi art stealing criminals in their search for a black book.

Walter Mitty (Danny Kaye) is a meek man who escapes from his life through daydreams. In these daydreams he's always a hero or a big success. In his real life he's a pushover who lets his mother dictate his love life and lets his boss steal his ideas. One day he meets a mysterious woman (Virginia Mayo) who looks exactly like his love interest in his daydreams. She gets Mitty mixed up in a plot involving a little black book and some bad guys trying to get it.Entertaining Danny Kaye vehicle that goes on too long but is still lots of fun. The Technicolor here is gorgeous. It really just pops out at you. Virginia Mayo looks especially lovely. Kaye plays to his strengths quite well. Ann Rutherford and Fay Bainter are wonderful. Boris Karloff has a great (but small) role as one of the baddies. Not Danny Kaye's best film but a very good one.

Ever since seeing him in Hans Christian Andersen when I was 8 or so(a film I still love) I've liked Danny Kaye a lot, and feel that like many commentators here that he is deserving of more attention. He is wonderful in The Secret of Walter Mitty, one of his best performances and quite possibly his most endearing. His antics are genuinely funny and he is charming in a way that comes naturally to him and is conveyed just as much to the audience. He has a fine supporting cast too, Virginia Mayo is astonishingly beautiful and as likable as Kaye, Ann Rutherford is charming and naïve, Boris Karloff plays cool and subtly sinister to perfection, Florence Bates is wholly convincing in overbearing mode and Thurston Hall is appropriately blustery without overdoing it. The Secret of Walter Mitty looks beautiful, the scenery is bursting with colour and vibrancy and the photography is expertly. The music fits with the action and comedy very well indeed, and the songs are catchy and a lot of fun. The best being Anatole of Paris though Symphony for Unstrung Tongues has some great lyrics/lines and is interesting for future director Robert Altman as an extra. The writing is witty and infectious, it never feels forced or mushy and it holds up well today too. The story is sweet and instantly lovable, children will be spellbound and amused by the dream sequences especially. Overall, a wonderful film with Kaye on top form. If you want to get acquainted with him or see what the fuss is about, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a great place to start. 10/10 Bethany Cox

James Thurber's whimsical day dreamer Walter Mitty was a perfect character for Danny Kaye to apply his many talents with. Make note however this is not film based on Thurber's short story, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, but the character is used to fashion a plot whereby this day dream believer gets into a real life adventure. And gets the girl one only dreams about.Poor henpecked Danny Kaye as Mitty works as a proofreader for publisher Thurston Hall who specializes in putting out pulp fiction works of adventure and romance. He's put upon by everyone, from his mother Fay Bainter to his girlfriend Ann Rutherford, her mother Florence Bates, his best 'friend' Gordon Jones and not the least by his boss Hall. His escape is in daydreaming and it's in these imaginary sequences that Kaye's real talents of singing and mimicry are given full range. During one of those sequences while at a fashion show Kaye does one of his most famous routines Anatole Of Paris.While on a train Kaye meets the beautiful girl of his dreams Virginia Mayo who is carrying some documents vital to her native Dutch government. And she's being pursued by the kind of international criminals that appear in James Bond or Austin Powers. Konstantin Shayne is the master criminal known only as 'the Boot' and he's assisted in his nefarious schemes by Boris Karloff. After he meets them poor Danny spends the rest of the film trying to help or rescue Virginia Mayo and convince the others in his life that he's in a real situation. The rest of his circle put his ravings down to an overactive imagination and he's even referred to a psychiatrist who turns out to be Boris Karloff. I'm not sure who was playing straight for who in the psychiatrist sequence, but it's funny nonetheless.It's not James Thurber. Thurber's story would be almost impossible to create accurately for the screen since it's all in his protagonist's mind. But as a character for Danny Kaye, Walter Mitty is a natural.