Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River

A labored comedy that lurches from one silly set piece to the next, 1968's "Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River" is certainly middling Jerry Lewis at best. In this one, Jerry plays an American wheeler-dealer living in London who is so busy chasing after money and arranging schemes that his wife, the yummy Jacqueline Pearce, dumps him in disgust. To win her back, Jerry turns her family mansion into a Chinese disco (don't ask!) and arranges a deal with his sometimes-partner, the usually dependable Terry-Thomas, to steal the plans for a new oil drill and sell them to the Arabs. Many unfunny situations ensue, some of them painful. Lewis is a bit cooler here than usual, only occasionally lapsing into his trademark goofiness. Jerry & Terry would have made a good comedy team, but they DO need something better to work with. Anywaste, I originally rented this one out because I had so enjoyed Ms. Pearce's work in a pair of 1966 Hammer horror films, "The Plague of the Zombies" and "The Reptile," and she turns out to be a gifted comedic actress here. Other pleasant surprises include the presences of Margaret Nolan (so fondly remembered by fans of the movie "Goldfinger") and Patricia Routledge, almost 25 years before playing Hyacinth Bucket on the Britcom "Keeping Up Appearances." Still, despite some good folks in the cast, I think I only laffed once: when Jerry said that one of his mumps had just exploded (again, don't ask!). This is a film that will best be appreciated by those who are either very stoned, very young or, I suppose, very French!

Jerry Lewis as a professional schemer who marries a lovely Brit and moves to Swinging London, but neglects his new spouse by always putting his eccentric clients first. She sues for divorce and gets custody of their manor--but while she's away, Lewis sneaks back in and turns the property into a restaurant/discotheque with a Chinese theme. Lewis, working solely as an actor-for-hire, is more appealing when he's restrained, but at the same time was getting too old for juvenile antics like this. Screenwriter Max Wilk adapted his own novel (!), but doesn't have much of a sense of humor. His ingredients here include loud divorce arguments, the mumps, blackmail, suspected infidelity...and Lewis doing a really awful Chinese imitation with his two front teeth stuck out. *1/2 from ****

I'm a big fan of Jerry Lewis. It seems people either love him or hate him. They either get the humor or they don't. I have every movie he's made, except for this one. And after seeing it again today, I realize why.

First of all he's completely miscast. It was mistake to cast him in this role and an even bigger mistake for him to take the job. This obviously wasn't a role for a comedian because the film isn't a comedy. Is divorce funny? When is the last time you heard someone say, "My divorce was hilarious."?

Then there's Jacqueline Pearce, who plays the role of his wife, or ex-wife. I'm amazed at all the positive talk about her. She can't act, looks like she cut her hair herself while wearing a blindfold and is totally annoying.

And if the storyline wasn't bad enough, throw in a girls scout troop, with mumps headed up by the stuffy Patricia "voice like the French Chef" Routledge. Seriously? Why? It had nothing to do with the plot.

And as I stare at the screen in disbelief that this is a Jerry Lewis movie, it all makes sense when you realize it was directed by Jerry Paris - the untalented hack that played Dick Van Dyke's neighbor.

Odd that the video cover says "The original king of comedy at his outrageous best!" Yes, he's one of the original kings of comedy, but in this film he's never outrageous and at his all time worst.

Jerry was cardboardish and unfunny. Good effort by Terry-Thomas, his scenes were funny. Jacqueline Pearce as Jerry wife was attractive but added nothing to the film. There was generally poor writing & directing. I was surprised to see Jerry Paris (the dentist neighbor from the Dick Van Dyke Show) was the director and not Jerry Lewis himself.

The unseen pilot of the Plane to Lisbon on the British Air Company that has no offices had some funny lines. I particularly like the line were they cruising " somewhere between 8,000 and 30,000 feet." I cannot really find any reason to recommend watching this movie, it is not campy and doesn't even show off Jerry's typical shtick.

As Jerry Lewis was winding down in his career as a box office star he did this film in Great Britain where he got to co-star with Terry-Thomas. Lewis plays a mercurial entrepreneur of sorts whose schemes seem to go awry all the time. For one thing unabashed con man Terry-Thomas is constantly bamboozling him. But when wife Jacqueline Pearce finally is ready to leave him once and for all, Lewis has need of his nemesis and the contacts he has to win her back.

He'll have to go some because after he turns their home into what he thinks is a grand idea, a combination discotheque and Chinese Restaurant in swinging London of the Sixties that settles his hash. But Lewis has a scheme whereby he steals the plans for a new type oil driller from Pearce's boyfriend Nicholas Parsons and he needs Terry-Thomas to make the contacts for illegal buyers.

Don't Raise The Bridge Lower The River had a pretty good plot premise, but somehow Lewis and Terry-Thomas never quite meshed together in their comedy styles. It's like both were in different films. In fact the comedy itself is clearly British in origin with Lewis brought in to insure some American box office.

One good thing about the film is the debut of Patricia Routledge as the mentor of some Girl Guides which is the British equivalent of the Girl Scouts. When she gets loaded and sets a romantic eye on Jerry it gets the funniest it does get.