User reviews

Lets face it, attempts to make a slapstick comedy, done after the '40's, can hardly be called good or successful ones. This movie however does work out surprisingly and it's one that is hard not to enjoy and will make you laugh, guaranteed. In all honesty, it's one of the most amusing comedies I have ever seen.

It's a movie filled with lots of physical humor, mostly coming from Jerry Lewis of course. This at the same time of course means that there is not much to the story but still the movie has a good script, which story provides the movie with plenty of fun and good characters and some nice comical situations. Still the movie at times feels as if it's trying to have too much story in it, which makes the movie drag a bit at times, certainly toward the end. It also makes the movie a bit overlong and it also easily could had been a shorter one had it cut out some of its lesser story lines. The movie should had focused more only on its comedy.

It's definitely not a too impressive looking movie. The movie didn't cost a lot of money to make. Not that it matters too much for the movie but its quality will probably still put off some people.

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were a screen-duo that appeared in quite a few comedies together. Lewis was there for playing the goofy characters and for adding most of the slapstick comedy of the movie, while Dean Martin was mostly there to play the pretty guy and to provide the movie with his singing skills. Kind of a strange and also unlikely duo but it worked out very well within their films. For this movie a whole bunch of other well known actors showed up. Cameos was a thing that became big and mostly popular in the '50's and lost of well known persons show up in this movie, though most of them just aren't that well known and recognizable this present day. The movie further more also features Shirley MacLaine and Eva Gabor among others in some big roles.

All in all a movie that I enjoyed watching and made me really laugh more than once.

7/10

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Well it looks like I will be the first reviewer to give Artists and Models a lukewarm opinion. Saw this on the big screen today at a downtown theater. With Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine,Dorothy Malone and Eva Gabor and the most fun I wind up having is with Eddie Mayehoff! Loved his portrayal of publisher Murdock. I don't know...to me, this movie just got more boring as it dragged on. While I do love all the vintage set designs, vintage wardrobe and remembrances of how things used to be-one pay phone in the hall for an apartment building, Dean scrubbing up in a bathtub before a shower became common and the historical fact that comic books were once decried as evil by the bastions of society, I still had to fight off massive amounts of sleepiness as this grinded to its conclusion. I don't know...maybe it was just the mood I was in. It WAS very colorful and Martin can't keep from smiling even when he's supposed to be mad which is amusing but, Gabor was a disappointment and Malone was kind of blah and Jerry, I was just kind of bored with his schtick today. But yes the highlight for me was Mr. Murdock played by Eddie Mayehoff.

This is probably the best of the films featuring Martin and Lewis. This film is also a fine parody due to the fact that this film was shot during the period when there it was being debated over how the comic books that were out during that time were affecting children (those arguments would lead to the "comics code"). The other highlight of this film was looking at Shirley MacLaine was chasing after Jerry (the girl must have needed glasses). These scenes provide much of the humor as Jerry's character Eugene is scared to death of the aggressive Betsy. Its also interesting to note that MacLaine's character Betsy is interested in astrology and MacLaine would later become known for her new age interests, including astrology.

A vehicle for the comedy duo of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, one that's got a little bit of everything, and in vibrant Technicolor no less. There were a lot of ideas crammed into this film, not all of which work, but they're executed with a lot of energy. Here you'll find musical numbers, Lewis's wacky humor, topical issues, and cultural references, all helped along considerably by the women in the cast, including Dorothy Malone, Shirley MacLaine, Anita Ekberg, and Eva Gabor. In fact, it's MacLaine who pulls off the best scene when she reprises the song Innamorata on the staircase, one that's choreographed beautifully for both laughs and sex appeal as she throws herself at Lewis.

It's a film that families can watch, but it sneaks in quite a bit of sexual innuendo, something that amused me. There's an erection reference in the dickey of Lewis's evening clothes continuing to pop up - "I can't keep this dickey down, Ricky" he says as it springs up to slap him in the face. There's the funny scene where he and Martin get twisted up in knots with two women at the massage parlor. There's the suave Martin rubbing lotion into the back of the prone Malone while serenading her, and Lewis's vision for a comic strip including the alluring villain Zuba the Magnificent, who "uses her body like a pair of pontoons." There's the publisher's always-hungry lover, who he passes off as his niece, cousin, or daughter, depending on what comes to mind.

Perhaps unintentionally(?), there's also a fair bit of homoeroticism in the relationship between the two leads. Lewis's character "likes girls," but he's also effeminate and adores Martin's character, cooking for him in an apron, welling up in a tear when he threatens to move out, and walking into the bathroom while he's in the bathtub. After playing a wild game of charades trying to convey a message to him, he even jumping into the water, almost causing Martin to break character. Later he gives him two kisses on the cheek, one from a woman, the other "from me."

There are a lot of fun little bits dropped into the script, starting with the Bat Lady and the dangers of comic books, which predated the dangers of television, the internet, and cell phones, and had ushered in the Comics Code the previous year. We get bits of the Cold War and a couple of years before Sputnik, get a prefetch of the Space Race ("We can safely predict our nation will be the first to break through the Earth's gravitational pull and establish a space station" ... oops on both counts). There's a Rear Window reference complete with Jimmy Stewart accent, an allusion to President Eisenhower's fondness for golfing, a meta reference to Martin's success with That's Amore, and Martin imitating one of Lewis's bits by crossing his eyes while yelling at him.

It was a bit exhausting keeping up with the film, but sweet little moments like Martin singing The Lucky Song with little kids, help with that. I might have liked it even more without the spy plotting towards the end, but Jerry Lewis tickles me with his screwball zaniness and this came with the package.

Probable one the most awaited movie from the duo comic Lewis & Martin,now an official release just came out with those remastered images that allow us to see so many gorgeous gils, funny story where Jerry Lewis makes a dumb guy addicted in comic books including weird dreams with their own crazy characters, bored when Martin has your old-fashioned songs, becomes a nightmare to me, on Lewis acting the life comeback to the picture!!

Resume:

First watch: 1979 / How many: 4 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7

1955 vehicle for long time film comedy partners, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Here they played painter Rick Todd, and his friend and roommate Eugene Fullstack, a comic book enthusiast who talks in his sleep. In doing so her narrates adventure stories in his slumber. The struggling artist that Rick is, he seeks to exploit the situation to his advantage. In the same apartment building lives Abigail Parker, (Dorothy Malone) who works as an artist for the comic book that Eugene is a huge fan of. She shares a flat with Bessie (Shirley MacLaine), who models for Abigail's artwork. Fate brings all four of them together, and Bessie finds herself falling for Eugene.

Marking the fourteenth pairing together of then major Hollywood stars Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as a comedy duo (although Martin had been a professional singer who found himself eventually teaming up with Lewis), it was a collaboration that had unsurprisingly proven to be a fruitful one given their success. With Artists and Models it seems it may have been something of a problematic shoot seeing as it went $100,000 over budget which was a considerable sum back then and may have set alarm bells going for regular movie goers, and professional movies critics. However, while far from being a classic of 1950's cinema, the movie makes for a palatable enough diversion. they pretty much played to what had now become established form. Playing very much to established type as aspiring artist, Rick Todd and his roommate and amiable, would be children's author Eugene Full Stack, the two men bounce effortlessly off one another. Rick is the smooth talking, self-assured ladies man while Eugene is the goofy man-child, with the former acting in something of big brother role to his more naive, sweet natured companion. For all of what could potentially be a potentially sleazy charmer, Martin as he did with his past characters manages to be likeable with a subtle vulnerability. He clearly loves his close friend even though we see him him become disenchanted with the burdensome complexion of their relationship.

As their neighbors in the apartment building where the two leads live, Dorothy Malone and Shirley MacLaine portray professional artist, Abigail Parker and her friend Bessie Sparrowbush who models for her drawings. They act as female counterparts (with Eugene ultimately modelling for Dorothy) and the obligatory love interests as Bessie develops a crush on Eugene, and Rick's affections for his fellow artist become plane to see. Their respective relationships are deftly contrasted with their being a growing smoldering, sexual tension between Rick and Dorothy, while there is a more innocent, coy playfulness between Eugene and Bessie. However, due to the attitudes and standards of today's more "progressive" and "politically correct" age, Rick's come on's Abigail's might been seen less than harmless flirtations than they are acts of harassment. This is even though it becomes abundantly apparent due to her simmering that she is indeed attracted to the good looking Lothario and is playing hard to get. While the dynamic of the male/female gender roles might prove offensive for some, I personally find it hard to care and while not necessarily defending Ricks behaviour, I was willing to see it as a historical reflection of the mores and customs of the era.

The movie's slight plot which relies heavily on well worn conventions does on the other hand does give Rick something of a moral quandary, with his loyal associate narrating outlandish sci-fi stories in his sleep which he ponders on exploiting for financial gain by selling them to comic book magnate Mr. Murdock (a droll, forthright Eddie Mayehoff). It's peppered with trademark musical interludes, which while bright and breezy bow to conformity with the endearingly scene of the artist performing a sing and dance routine in the street with a little girl while passersby and onlookers smile inanely. It's fanciful stuff by contemporary standards but enjoyable if derivative.

There are also a string of requisite comedy scenarios which range from Eugene sitting down to a largely imaginary meal with Rick, to the lovable goofball's visit to a massage therapist upon to fix his sacroiliac which descends in to absurd and comical complications. And it's this sense of absurdity that moves in to the movie's final act, as by a bizarre improbable twist of fate, Eugene's slumberous ramblings have inadvertently revealed intel which provokes the interest of both the American CIA and Russian KGB. It's the kind of standard trope that became typical fare in the then present and future comedies. It all culminates in a predictable stand-off towards it's denouement before the four main protagonists take their figurative final bows, and to summarize it's charming if modest fluff at best with some funny moments and well performed musical numbers (although MacLaine does overstretch her vocal abilities in a scene she shares with Lewis) that while dated to some extent, is largely inoffensive if you don't take it too seriously. A movie you could sit down and watch with you grandmother, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I first saw this movie in the 90's with my mother, a huge Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis fan. To this day it is my favorite movie from their pairing. The two play roommates who sing, dance, and at one point consider getting a divorce while trying to pay the rent on their NYC flat. They have a run-in of sorts with their upstairs neighbors and of course, all hilarity ensues. One of my favorite parts of the movie, however, is Shirley MacLaine, in her second movie role. She steals scenes from Lewis every chance she gets and is simply hilarious! The scene between her and Lewis on the stairs is one of my favorite movie moments of all time! I only wish MacLaine had gotten to make more movies with Lewis; they make for a pretty funny pair on screen! Watch for the scene between Martin and the little girl on the street; its a great song with some pretty impressive dancing on both parts. A great movie to watch if you're a fan of Lewis, Martin, or MacLaine.

Worth it for the moment that Jerry Lewis's character says that reading comic books made him r*****ed, unless I misheard because I couldn't believe what I heard lol.

This definitely isn't the first Jerry Lewis movie I watched, and neither is it the first time I've seen Dean Martin in a film, but I think it is the first Martin & Lewis movie I've watched. It was fine, I guess. It has a scattershot, almost manic energy that's sometimes fun, but also wore me down a little as it went along.

Artists and Models is just a silly old-fashioned comedy with a few infrequent music numbers and a lot of bright colours. Martin and Lewis have a good dynamic and it's all slightly amusing. I guess it was fine for a film of its age, but it probably won't stick with me.

A couple of good scenes do not make a good movie. Nice color and sets and an attractive Dorothy Malone. Shirley is a delight. Thats about it. Silly plot and situations as with all Martin and Lewis flicks. Very gay references by the two men especially when Dean says "I want a divorce" and when Deans in the bathtub while Jerry watches and then falls in with him. Also questionable is the relationship with the two gals. How did all this get past the censors. Today of course, quite innocent, but in the 50's...well.... Anyway, a couple of good laughs with an implausable ending that comes out of nowhere. Be warned!!!

One of the best of the Martin&Lewis films is Artists And Models where Dean and Jerry play a pair of roommates. Dino is a struggling artist and Jerry just struggles.

Jerry also dreams out loud and his wild imaginings in the arms of Morbeus give Dean an idea for comic strip characters which he draws. It makes them both quite successful. When they accidentally print the part of a secret rocket formula that is destined to launch a proposed space station into orbit, he arouses both the interest of our Secret Service and the Russians. They send a beautiful spy in the person of Eva Gabor and her scenes trying to vamp Jerry are a scream.

Two things struck me about Artists And Models. One was that Dino seemed less abusive of Jerry in the relationship. It was something different coming out of the pair. Secondly Paramount hired songwriters Harry Warren and Jack Brooks to write a really outstanding score for Dean to sing, one of the best in a Martin&Lewis film. In fact I'm surprised that such songs like Innamorata, When You Pretend, You Look So Familiar, and The Lucky Song, that not one of them merited an Oscar nomination. All are very big favorites with Dean Martin's legion of fans. The team of Warren and Brooks was responsible for Dino's biggest hit from a motion picture, That's Amore.

Jerry occasionally gets a girl as well in some of their films and in this one he got Shirley MacLaine who was doing just her second film, having made her debut in Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble With Harry also done at Paramount. She also gets to vamp Jerry with a hysterical obbligato of Innamorata. She proves his equal in the mugging department, no mean feat.

In fact the film is populated with beautiful women besides MacLaine and Gabor, Anita Ekberg is also a model and Dorothy Malone is an artist who rooms with MacLaine and has a relationship roughly parallel. Malone looks a whole lot like Jeanne Martin in my humble opinion and in the Nick Tosches biography of Dean Martin, she speaks warmly about working with him in a couple of films, saying he was one of the easiest going people to work with and in fact on another film, helped her over a rough patch because Malone had just lost a brother.

Artists And Models shows Dean and Jerry at their best and musically it might just be the best of the scores Dean Martin ever got in any of his films.

Yes, Jerry Lewis can get annoying, but this movie is worth seeing just for the visuals. As in Cinderfella, the clothes and sets are all too broad and too bright for real life. Tashlin has a talent for making Lewis's mugging work more often than not.

When I was 10 in 1955, my family saw this at a theater. My Dad complained during the entire drive home about how stupid it was.

My 10-year-old self thought it was pretty funny. I still remember Jerry Lewis not-so-daintily carving up 2 or 3 beans (the only things he had for dinner) and his running up and down stairs in the apartment building freaking out about the Bat Lady and the fat lady.

Many years later, I watched it on TV as an adult, sure that I would still be laughing and that my father's Puritan sensibilities probably objected to Shirley MacLaine's skimpy Bat Lady outfit rather than the slapstick comedy.

My Dad was right.

A crazy film for devotees of the super-hero comic book. Shirley MacLaine was both wacky and alluring as Bessie, who is the inspiration of the Bat-Lady, a character of the comic book which Dorothy Malone draws(?) Jerry is his usual self, while Dean Martin turns up a one-note performance as the typecast Lothario who tries to romance Dorothy who at first would have nothing to do with him. Eva Gabor(before Green Acres), cast as the seductress who tries to worm spy secrets out of Jerry is excellent.

I remember seeing the movie years ago and there was a scene where Jerry paints faces and puts little dresses on the knees of a young blonde actress in one scene. The actress bared a slight resemblance to Anne Bancroft. Is this correct?

Brian T

Rick and Eugene (Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis) are roommates and artists. Business is not good. However, Eugene's crazy dreams (influenced by his constantly reading comic books) which keep Rick asleep turn out to be a GOOD thing, as he talks them out in his sleep--and Rick then writes down what Eugene says and puts them in a comic book! The kids love 'em and this comic book world also brings them into contact with two cuties--Abigale (Dorothy Malone) for Rick and Bessie (Shirley MacLaine) is smitten with Eugene. On a cute twist, when Eugene first sees Bessie, she is dressed up as a model for Abigale to draw--and she is dressed as 'Bat Lady'. Eugen is smitten....but not so smitten with her when she's in her normal guise--and he doesn't know they are the same person! Later, it turns out that the material Eugene unknowingly gives Rick happens to miraculously have fragments of US Government secrets. And, spies are interested in find out more! Rick quickly picks up on this and alerts the government--who then ask Rick to go along with the spies and to let himself get vamped (by Eva Gabor) so he can learn more about her organization--but his girlfriend (Malone) is not amused. Tune in if you want to find out what happens next.

Overall, while this is not a great film (understanding I am NOT a Martin & Lewis fan), it does have some clever moments and is pleasant. I especially liked the weird inside jokes--such as one making fun of Jimmy Stewart and "The Rear Window" and liked seeing Eugene sign his name on the easel near the end. But, the film also is pretty low-brow and only pleasant. But the plot is very original and I have to give the film some credit for this.

Dean Martin plays an artist named Rick Todd and Jerry Lewis is his buddy Eugene Fullstack.Eugene happens to be obsessed with comic books and has very bad dreams because of those.Rick gets an idea to make a comic book from Eugene's dreams.In the same building there lives Abigail Parker (Dorothy Malone), who's the author of Eugene's favorite comic book The Bat Lady and the model Bessie Sparrowbrush (Shirley MacLaine).Rick likes Abby and Bessie likes Eugene.Eddie Mayehoff is a little weird publisher Mr Murdock.Frank Tashlin's Artists and Models (1955) is an awfully funny picture from Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.These two were magnificent together.Also other actors support the main clowns very well.Maclaine and Malone are very pretty and great actresses.Eddie Mayehoff is just hilarious as the publisher.There are also people like Eva Gabor (Zsa Zsa's sister), Anita Ekberg, Jack Elam and Kathleen Freeman.The movie is filled with great actors and funny scenes.There's one where Jerry has to keep running downstairs all the time for the telephone and Jerry on TV with many others.There are also some wonderful musical numbers, like where Shirley sings Innamorata very loud making Jerry freaked and Dean singing with the little girl.There are many scenes to remember.This movie is fifty years old (where did the time go), but it hasn't aged a bit as Jerry Lewis movies never will.Jerry never will.

Artists and Models (1955) : Brief Review -

What Fukrey attempted in 2013, Martin and Lewis had done 6 decades ago, and so much better. Remember that silly dream coming to reality idea? What they called it, "Deja Vu," or "Deja Chu," in Fukrey, was somehow born here in 1955 with Artists and Models. The rest of the script differs, though. One more thing: Fukrey attempts childish humor through a grown-up character who is accompanied by a much smarter and more mature character. See, even that was born here, maybe. Forget the comparison because we are talking about a film that was made 7 decades ago and had a much better impact on contemporary audiences. Artists and Models is the 14th film of the Martin and Lewis duo, and they both are on a roll here. They were slightly late for that duo or team tag that time since the likes of Marx Bros, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, and a few others were already making waves all over. Coming back to this film, I feel this one has remained underrated due to its highly generous and colorful humor. Eugene sees highly unimaginative dreams, and Rick is fed up with his childish behavior. Eugene meets a bat lady and falls in love, not knowing her real identity, or rather, not being mature enough to understand it. The bat lady's roommate and Rick begin a sweet romance, and they are all linked to each other in some way or another, but mainly because of their jobs as artists. Rick uses Eugene's dreams to make money, but shockingly, all those turn out to be true and become a scientific threat to the nation's security. Will Rick be able to save Eugene when the enemies are on the hunt? Basically, it's a totally crazy film. It's what they used to call it, "Madcap." The dialogues, songs and characters are all funny, visually beautiful, and sexy. Frank Tashlin's Vista Vision musical comedy is crazy enough to be called one of the finest madcap and riotous comedies from the 1950s, if you ever really cared about real gems from the genre or ever understood them. Watch it, and you won't regret some mad fun.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

I've never seen a Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis movie. This was my first and I hope it is not my last! With a wacky story line (Crazy-for-comic boy Eugene dreams up comic book stories with Vincent Vulture and Freddie Fieldmouse and his friend writes them down) and a ton of laughs ("Not only will I watch your switchboard but I'll buzz your lights and tangle your wires. Come 'ere baby." "Not while your friend's watching." "Oh, he left." "Wow! Then what are we waiting for? My saggitarius was right. Come on, boy. Don't fight.") And the cutest actors (Shirley MacLaine, Dorothy Malone). How can you not love the songs? And then there's the entire Eva Gabor thing going on. This movie is hilarious, too bad it's not popular NOW. I highly recommend it. I love it.

This may be the best of the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedy movie pairings. "Artists and Models" is fairly sophisticated with witty dialog along with the antics. And the antics in this one are very good, with some highly imaginative skits. On top of that, this film is a satire. It spoofs or pokes fun at many interests. Among these are superstitions that were very popular in the mid-20th century (astrology and numerology). It ravages comic books and hits quite hard on television. It spoofs the toy industry, government security and military top-secret plans. It has fun with spying during the Cold War - spoofing the CIA and Soviet KGB.

The cast includes some short appearances by top Hollywood glamour girls of the day; and the entire cast perform well. Dean is Rick Todd, Jerry is Eugene Fullstack, Shirley MacLaine is Bessie Sparrowbrush, and Dorothy Malone plays the other female lead as Abby Parker. Eddie Mayehoff is hilarious as Mr. Murdock and Kathleen Freeman as Mrs. Muldoon appears to have two roles. She is the apartment owner or manager and she reprises one of her Swedish massage roles for great laughter.

Several comedy skits that often have hijinks or antics are innovative and hilarious. The first is a one-bean dinner, with Jerry doing the carving that leads viewers to some healthy howling. There is a stairway scene that's a riot with Jerry and a young Shirley MacLaine in just her second movie. And, a chiropractic double skit is a riot. Jerry is maneuvered and mangled on a massage table with some very funny twists (literal), and then coerces Dean and three women onto the table for a very funny menagerie, which he then escapes.

One very funny scene doesn't involve either lead. Murdock is chewing out Abby for not delivering the right stuff for his comic books. "You're supposed to be an artist and a writer of children's stories," he says. "..62 pages of drawings, and no blood. Not even an itsy bitsy nosebleed. Suffering catfish, you call this a Murdock book for kiddies? With no stranglings? With no decapitations? Where are they? Look at the competition we're getting from television. Night before, I counted 13 murders - four stranglings, nine suffocations and six poisonings (sic) - on two channels in one hour. And another thing. Just you think of this, girl. When they're able to show that red blood gushing out of open wounds in spectacular color - and they'll get it free, right into the living rooms there sponsored by those friendly used car dealers."

In one scene, two men are in a far building spying on Murdock in his office. We can't see the face of one who's looking through binoculars. The other guy asks what they are doing down there. In a voice that sounds very much like that of Jimmy Stewart, the other guys says, "I can't see too well through this 'Rear Window.'" What a hoot. This film came out when Dwight Eisenhower was president. Ike like to golf and often was in the news around his golf outings. One of the CIA agents thanks Rick for helping them uproot the KGB spies. "Who knows, the President might invite you to the White House," he says. "I doubt that," Rick replies. "Why?" the agent asks. ""I shoot in the low 70s," Rick answered.

"Artists and Models" has four or five songs. There weren't any memorable tunes, and most just weren't that good. The film could easily have done without the musical numbers. Just a little rewrite would be needed.

Martin and Lewis made two films together in supporting roles before they became top billing and films were scripted for and around them. The first starring role for the duo was "At War with the Army" in 1950. They made 16 films together from 1949 to 1956, and all were box office successes.

Here are some favorite lines from this film.

Abigail 'Abby' Parke, "Listen, the man that a woman doesn't want doesn't exist."

Rick Todd, "I like the way your bone structure's structured."

Rick Todd, "Real nice, Murdock. Very nice. Couple more issues and you and I will make 'em forget Hitler." Mr. Murdock, "Now wait a minute. Don't get squeamish, Todd."

Bessie Sparrowbrush, "You know, numerology's a science. I take the numbers - the day, the month and the year that I was born. I add the day, the month and the year that Eugene was born, and that answer I divide with my street address. Then I add that to my social security number, and with that answer I divide with Eugene's social security number. Then I multiply that by the number of dancing lessons I take. And, the number of calories I eat in one day I subtract from that, and I multiply the whole thing by the time and that's the end of it." Abigail 'Abby' Parker, "How's it work out?" Bessie, "Zero -- Eugene again."

This movie has three things going for it, cinematography, Lewis and MacLaine, Daniel L. Fapp was a great cinematographer who did "West Side Story" and "the Great Escape" among other films. The gorgeous and vibrant colors jump off the screen and embrace you here. Thankfully the Technicolor is preserved in all its glory. The second great thing about this movie is Jerry Lewis's slapstick. If you enjoy this genre of comedy, there are numerous scenes where Lewis shows off his superb skills. He and Danny Kaye were the two masters of it in fifties. My favorite scene where Lewis entwines a number of bodies during a back-rub sequence. The third plus is Shirley MacLaine. She only has five or six scenes but she is terrific and you see the origin of the Chaplinesque or more properly Normandesque (after Mabel Normand) character that she would play so magnificently in "The Apartment," "Irma La Douce," and "Sweet Charity." Shirley had only played in "The Trouble With Harry," a rare Hitchcock comedy misfire before this film. It is this film that really shows her best qualities and talents.

The script is generally quite funny and witty, but takes an odd turn in the third act when it adds an out of blue spy plot.

The film is also quite sexy. Its sexy talk and many sequences of beautifully dressed and nearly undressed women really pushed the boundaries of sexuality in movies in 1955.

One does feel a bit sorry for Dean Martin, as he plays a straight man who really has only average scenes that do not show his talents very well. He does have a couple of good song numbers.

The film's satire on the comic book scandals of the 1950's will also be appreciated by comic book fans. Lewis' character is in love with a comic book heroine called "The Bat Lady." reflecting the popularity of the Batman character even in this time period.

Fans of cinematography, slapstick, Jerry Lewis and Shirley MacLaine should definitely catch this one. Others might have a hard time with it.

I bought this movie at amazon.com because I'm a musical fan as well as a Shirley MacLaine fan. I'm so glad that I did! Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin are wonderful comiediennes, and Dean's voice could probably melt any woman's heart, serenading them with "Armaratta" and "You Look So Familiar." Jerry Lewis is funny as the dumb-bat best friend, Eugene, who is crushed upon by love-struck numberology/astrology loving Bessie (MacLaine). The songs are delightful and the movie is hilarious. I gave this a 9. Eva Gabor is also in the act as well as Dorothy M. and they're terrific! I highly recommend this movie to EVERYONE!