Jerry Lewis: The "Legendary Jerry" Collection [10 Discs]

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 10
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital 5.1
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV, Color, Black and White
• Subtitle: English, Spanish
• Features:
  • • cc

AWARDS

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated New Star of the Year - Female - 1965 (Donna Butterworth)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  Jerry Lewis, Norman Taurog, Don McGuire, Frank Tashlin

• Producer:

  Jerry Lewis, Ernest D. Glucksman, Hal B. Wallis, Paul Jones

• Screenwriter:

  Jerry Lewis, Bill Richmond, Fred F. Finklehoffe, Martin Rackin

• Screen Story:

  Sid Silvers

• Screenwriter:

  Elwood Ullman, Don McGuire, Frank Tashlin

• Screen Story:

  Ed Haas, Norm Liebmann

• Cinematographer:

  W. Wallace Kelley, Daniel L. Fapp, Haskell Boggs

• Composer (Music Score):

  Jack Brooks, Walter Scharf, Harry Warren

• Songwriter:

  Jack Brooks

• Composer (Music Score):

  David Raksin

• Songwriter:

  Raskin, Louis Y. Brown, Lil Mattis, Jerry Lewis

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Joseph Lilley

• Composer (Music Score):

  Buddy Bregman, Joseph Lilley, Peter King

• Editor:

  Stanley E. Johnson, John M. Woodcock, Warren Low, Howard A. Smith, Arthur P. Schmidt, Russell Wiles

• Art Director:

  Hal Pereira, Ross Bellah, Cary O'Dell, Walter Tyler, Arthur Lonergan, Franz Bachelin, Henry Bumstead, Earl Hedrick, Tambi Larsen, John S. Poplin

• Co-producer:

  Arthur P. Schmidt

• Associate Producer:

  Ernest D. Glucksman

• Set Designer:

  Sam Comer, James W. Payne, Ray Moyer, Robert R. Benton, Ed Pine, Bertram Granger

• Costume Designer:

  Edith Head

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Charles Grenzbach, Hugo Grenzbach

• Makeup:

  Wally Westmore, Jack Stone

• Special Effects:

  John P. Fulton, Paul K. Lerpae, Gordon Jennings, Farciot Edouart

• First Assistant Director:

  Charles C. Coleman, Jr., Ralph Axness

• Choreography:

  Bobby Van, Nick Castle

• Dialogue Coach:

  Marvin Weldon

• Short Story Author:

  Nora Liebmann

REVIEWS:

• Cinderfella finds Jerry Lewis toning things down slightly, which means that there are actually several segments of this children's film that adults can watch without cringing. Fans of Lewis' over-the-top performing style needn't worry; there are still plenty of opportunities to watch the star mug, convulse, and run circles around himself (and others), as well as turn words and phrases into strings of mush (sometimes at an interminable length). Still, there are also some moments, particularly toward the end, when Lewis plays in a subdued manner that is quite appealing, creating a sweeter version of what will later become his Buddy Love character in The Nutty Professor. Cinderfella also has some nice "slumming" work from Judith Anderson and an enchanting, if criminally underutilized, stunning Anna Maria Alberghetti (whose glorious singing voice is heard only briefly). There's also a nice turn by Joe Williams and Count Basie's band and a decent bit from Ed Wynn; otherwise, there's not much to Cinderfella. The gender-switching fairy tale idea is never really explored, either for theme or for comic invention, and a subplot about Fella's secret treasure from his father is just so much dross. Lewis and Frank Tashlin's direction is surprisingly bland (although they do compose a nicely framed closing shot); even when Lewis lets loose, the film doesn't seem to be having a lot of fun. Better in concept than execution, Cinderfella is harmless but not particularly involving. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi
• It hasn't been fashionable to praise Jerry Lewis in a long time. Yes, many of his films are inane pieces of fluff, but every now and then a forgotten gem resurfaces to remind many of what made him popular to begin with. The Errand Boy, the second feature to be directed by Lewis himself, is a collection of elaborate gags held together by the fact that the same character appears in all of them. It's a poke in the ribs to Hollywood as the title character Morty Tashman, played by the auteur himself, meanders all over the "Paramutuel Pictures" lot and causes a general ruckus. What redeems this film are some of the better jokes -- Morty eats lunch in the middle of a battle scene from a war movie, dubs the singing voice of an actress, and performs a very funny boardroom pantomime to big band music. There's nothing subtle about any of the humor and there's plenty of misses along with the hits, but there are enough to provide an overall sense of good clean fun. There's also the fun of identifying all the members of the enormous supporting cast which features classic screen comedians like Doodles Weaver, Sig Rumann, and ex-Stooge Joe Besser. In addition, Morty literally runs into the cast of TV's Bonanza on several occasions. What makes the film lose some luster is his tendency for schmaltz, epitomized by the long preachy monologue at the end of the film that serves no real purpose. Still, there are some good laugh-out-loud moments and Jerry Lewis has definitely done worse. ~ Dan Friedman, Rovi
• Fans of Jerry Lewis will, of course, love The Bellboy. But what's surprising is that even people who are relatively immune to his charms may find themselves chuckling several times during the course of the film. It isn't that Bellboy is a great film, or that it features dazzlingly original comic ideas. Quite the opposite: it seems that, because Lewis had to make this film VERY quickly, he simply pulled together bits and pieces from here and there and trusted to luck that everything would come out well. Thus, Bellboy has a looseness that is quite appealing, a devil-may-care attitude that is genuine rather than fake, and this makes it much easier to watch than some of Lewis' more thought-out or ambitious efforts. Bellboy is filled with gags we've seen in some form hundreds of times, but they're presented guilelessly here. They may not inspire guffaws, but they should bring at least a smile to the lips. It's also enjoyable to see Lewis working in a plotless film; his character remains the same throughout, but without having to be chained to the exigencies of plot, his work is lighter and more enjoyable. True, some sketches definitely go on too long, and some jokes simply fall flat. But there's enough here to keep one moderately entertained, even if one is not a Lewis lover. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi
• It's said that every clown secretly wants to play Hamlet. For Jerry Lewis, however, playing Professor Julius Ferris Kelp in The Nutty Professor (1963), a variant take on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, was a more than satisfactory substitute. Co-authored, directed by, and starring Lewis, the movie's reputation has suffered from the fall in its creator's reputation over the ensuing 40 years. And Lewis' portrayal of Professor Kelp, the Jekyll half of his Jekyll-and-Hyde combination, is so overtly, surreally comical, with his chipmunk-like physiognomy, that the film was thought of and sold as a kid's movie. It is a comedy about a fairly serious and complex subject, a personality that is out of balance and its owner's quest for wholeness -- it actually has much more in common with such Steve Martin vehicles as All of Me than it does with such gag-laden Lewis vehicles as Who's Minding the Store? The movie has a fascinating subtext about masculinity repressed and suppressed from the cradle that makes it one of the boldest Hollywood "comedies" of its era. The flashback scenes between Howard Morris and Elvia Allman, as Kelp's parents, are funny and surreal, but also have a tragic edge to them -- and at 88 minutes in, there's a piece of dialogue between Lewis' and Stella Stevens' characters that is so quietly poignant and so piercingly on target that it almost turns this movie, for an instant, into a tragedy. With the help of Kelp's experiments upon himself, that repressed masculinity suddenly manifests itself, transforming the introverted, intensely cerebral Kelp into the self-confident, charismatic, extrovert Buddy Love. The latter actually bears a striking resemblance to Frank Sinatra in his Rat Pack days, and, what's more, to Sinatra at his realistically obnoxious, which he could be. Where Lewis resembles Dean Martin is in the quality of his portrayal, which rivals Martin's best screen performances. As a director, Lewis also proves a marvelous shaper of other performances -- he captures Stella Stevens, an actress whose career showed more promise than fulfillment, as an iconic figure of fresh, young, newly ripened female sexuality. Without a false note in her performance, or a wasted move or blink of an eye, she's a memorable mix of innocence, guileless lust, impetuousness, and wide-eyed wonder at the unbridled side of masculinity that she sees in Buddy Love. The shooting, editing, and scoring of the fantasy scene in which Kelp suddenly sees Stevens' character in different provocative guises recalls (and, indeed, parodies) the multi-faceted, idealized visions of Leslie Caron's character in her first on-screen appearance in Vincente Minnelli's An American in Paris. And that brings us to the music which, beyond the presence of Les Brown and his band, and Lewis' Buddy Love singing most impressively, features Walter Scharf having great fun with variations on such Paramount music library staples as Richard Rodgers' waltz "Lover" and Victor Young's "Stella by Starlight," all to very sophisticated comedic effect. And beyond the merits of its performances and direction, The Nutty Professor functions on yet another level, its Jekyll-and-Hyde story tailored to the '60s just as they were starting to swing; between them, Julius Kelp and Buddy Love embody the struggle between two rival visions of manhood, one responsible and circumspect, and the other bold, reckless, and grasping. The movie is a loopy take on the culture war that was just coming to the fore in 1963, between established staid ideals of the previous generation and the more hedonistic extrovert sexuality embodied by the morality of the 1960s, and represented by the image of the Rat Pack and the cool "swinger" Buddy Love (one can also detect the lurking influence of Playboy magazine in Love's behavior). The movie does over-reach a bit, trying to be too many things to a few too many people, and it ends three minutes later than it should have; but The Nutty Professor is as distinctive an achievement as the best works of Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
• The films that Jerry Lewis directed could get self-reflexive but few ever took it as far as The Patsy. On the surface, it has a typical Lewis-film premise: a lovable loser gets in over his head but triumphs thanks to his innate decency and a little help from a loving woman. The Patsy also delivers the expected laughs: highlights include a scene where Lewis botches an attempt to lip-synch a terrible pop record on a teen dance show, another moment where he drives two of his minders mad by consistently botching a nightclub routine and a hilarious scene where a music lesson ends in mass destruction of a roomful of antiques. However, The Patsy surprises by modern standards because it also offers a wry, cynical dissection of how the showbiz machine works and how the savvy people who run it will create lousy "stars" just to keep their comfortable jobs. There's a very "meta" feel to the film, complete with real-life entertainment figures like Hedda Hopper and Ed Sullivan satirizing themselves, not to mention a unique ending that tweaks expectations in an ahead-of-its-time postmodern fashion. Lewis delivers the slapstick and the pathos in equal measure as an actor and also benefits from the confident support of an ace supporting cast that includes notables like Peter Lorre, Keenan Wynn and Everett Sloane. Among the support players, the scene stealers are Ina Balin as the quietly sensitive girl Friday who falls for the hero and Hans Conreid as a singing instructor who slowly unravels as he is forced to deal with Lewis. Finally, Lewis's direction is confident and inventive, making excellent use of color and motion to sell the gags and also weaving in unusual surprises like a flashback without dialogue that plays out as a poignant musical interlude. In short, The Patsy works both as a prime example of Jerry Lewis's many skills and also as an unexpectedly incisive satire of show business. ~ Donald Guarisco, Rovi
• This hilarious Jerry Lewis vehicle is one of his all-time classics. The major reason for this is the skillful work of writer/director Frank Tashlin: no other filmmaker could use the many gifts of Lewis as skillfully as he could. Tashlin's script plays not only to Lewis's skills for mugging and slapstick but also weaves in a surprising amount of drama that brings out his underrated gift for pathos. Lewis rises to the challenge of this script with a performance that covers the gamut from rubber-faced antics to surprisingly understated expressions of adult emotion, often within the same scene. Tashlin also gets great performances from the rest of the cast: Susan Oliver delivers a genuinely intense and dramatic performance as the troubled girl the hero pines for, Kathleen Freeman makes an excellent comedic foil for Lewis as his constantly agitated supervisor and Everett Sloane is amusing as a sleazy administrator who gets his comeuppance. Best of all, Tashlin's direction of The Disorderly Orderly is truly inventive: he gives the film a snazzy pace and a bright, "pop" color scheme that suits the manic approach of its star. More importantly, he uses the language of film to choreograph the gags in unique, visually expressive ways. Highlights in that area include a silent argument played out with subtitles and the masterfully choreographed finale, which orchestrates a chase between two ambulances in a manner that is thrilling and hilariously destructive all at once. In short, anyone with an interest in Jerry Lewis's work needs to see The Disorderly Orderly. ~ Donald Guarisco, Rovi
• It would be hard for an objective appraiser to call The Family Jewels a gem, but this is a sentiment with which many ardent Jerry Lewis fans would clearly take issue. Lewis supporters probably wouldn't argue with the fact that Jewels is a very sloppy film, with continuity issues so blatant that they simply can't be ignored. They also probably would agree that the screenplay is little more than an excuse for Lewis to play seven roles. But they most likely would disagree with the assessment that there is neither enough variety nor enough depth in these roles to justify a full-length film. The characters that Lewis creates here are made of flour and paste; there's nothing very interesting about them, to the point that they overstay their welcome, even though they occupy the screen for only ten minutes or so each. Matters are not helped by the fact that the "MacGuffin" that is the premise of the film -- who will Donna Butterworth choose as her guardian? -- generates absolutely no suspense or surprise. There are a few good moments, and Lewis as Captain Eddie comes very close to being engaging, but Jewels is a film that is best enjoyed by those who already accept Lewis as a comedic genius. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi
• The Delicate Delinquent indicated that maybe there was a reason that Jerry Lewis wanted to break off from his successful teaming with Dean Martin. Delinquent is quite different in tone from the typical Martin-Lewis vehicle; it's more serious and (comparably) weightier. Indeed, many of Lewis' post-partner films delved into somewhat darker territory. Unfortunately, they rarely delved successfully, and Delinquent is typical of the problems associated with many Lewis films. The marriage between serious and comic seems forced, and the satire of juvenile delinquency films peters out rather quickly. The "dramatic" portion of the film is clichéd and unconvincing, and the love story doesn't work. Lewis handles some of his serious moments rather well, but the character who talks about being lonely seems like a different person than the one who skyrockets off the screen during moments of slapstick silliness. Still, there are some worthwhile moments, such as the opening segment, which plays like a spin-off of West Side Story (although that film was not made until several years after Delinquent). Martha Hyer and Darren McGavin do well in the roles they're known for. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi
• The Ladies Man may not be Jerry Lewis' best film, as The Nutty Professor and a few others probably are more appropriate for that honor, but it certainly has its adherents, and with good reason. For one thing, Lewis is a bit more restrained than in some of his other films, although still far from what one would call subtle. For another, Ladies has a nicely surreal touch to it, with several moments that are more strange than funny, but are all the more pleasing for that reason. (The "femme fatale" sequence, with its black main figure, all white décor and Harry James accompaniment is bizarre and totally fascinating.) Perhaps most in its favor, Ladies clearly demonstrates that whatever his weaknesses as a director, Lewis certainly knew how to use a camera in intriguing, inventive and often surprising ways. The long sequence which introduces the mammoth and truly fabulous main mansion set is technically brilliant, displaying an assurance and skill with the camera that is impossible to deny. Lewis here, as in many of his other films, evinces a sharp eye for color and how to use it for maximum effect. True, the screenplay that all this skill is in the service of is no world beater, and its surreal sequences are sometimes ill matched with its more traditional story elements, especially the sappy and unconvincing ending. And as usual, Lewis doesn't always know when he has gone too far. Still, Ladies' strengths are such that even those who don't typically like Lewis should give it a shot. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi
• The Stooge is an oddity in the canon of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis films in that it lacks the over-the-top freneticism that is usually associated with them (and with Lewis as a solo performer). It's also an oddity in that, intentionally or not, it seems to cut close to the bone in terms of the pair's real life relationship. And, finally, it's a drama with comic bits rather than a real comedy. It would be nice to report that this change-of-pace outing was a breath of fresh air, but while it's a pleasure to have Lewis more controlled than usual, it also must be admitted that Stooge is overall a pretty dull affair. The restrained comedy doesn't feel comfortable, and the drama is handled obviously and far too heavily. The stickiness of the climactic reunion is simply too much, and the story is too one-sided, too geared to Lewis' character. Rather than creating complex, believable characters, we're given dramatic stereotypes, and they just don't hold the screen. Martin and Lewis do well enough; they just don't have much to work with. Martin is in good voice, however, as is his paramour Polly Bergen. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi