Coney Island is a silent short comedy starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, with Buster Keaton in a secondary role. Buster is interesting to watch, in that he hasn’t yet developed his trademark stoneface personality, and can be seen laughing, etc.
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In Angels in the Outfield, Paul Douglas, stars with Janet Leigh, as the hot-tempered Pittsburgh Pirates manager. His hard-luck team goes on a winning streak thanks to some heavenly intervention.
In The Million Dollar Duck, a lab worker (Dean Jones) takes home a laboratory animal (Charlie the duck) to prevent it from being destroyed, as a pet for his son. However, the duck’s exposure to radiation has mutated it. And it now literally lays golden eggs when the family dog barks. At first, the scientist, this ditzy wife (Sandy Duncan) think this is a Godsend. Until they begin to get greedy, and their neighbor (Joe Flynn) begins to get suspicious.
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Editorial Reviews of Jerry Lewis’ The Ladies Man (1961), courtesy of Amazon.com Jerry Lewis conjured up one of his simplest concepts for this 1961 hit, but… Read More »The Ladies Man
In The Disorderly Orderly, Jerry Lewis plays the part of Jerome Littlefield, a would-be medical student who has dropped out of school due to his extreme case of sympathy pains—whenever a patient discusses his or her symptoms, Jerome begins to feel the malady himself. In addition, he finds himself pining for the girl that he fell in love with in college. She doesn’t know that he exists (Susan Oliver). To the distress of one of the nurses (Karen Sharp), who has fallen in love with Jerry Lewis’ character.
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Funny Bones, directed by Peter Chelsom (Hear My Song), is a weird but intriguing comedy with a particularly dark edge. Oliver Platt plays a would-be comedian, the son of a major comedy star (Jerry Lewis); Dad’s reputation even overshadows his son’s Las Vegas debut. After that flop the son tries to go back to his roots and heads for his father’s launch pad in Blackpool, England. There, he meets his previously unknown half-brother (Lee Evans), a bizarre comedy savant who teaches him a thing or two about taking risks to get laughs, and discovers a secret about how his father got started. Platt is likably lost and Lewis is perfectly overbearing, but the real find here is Evans, a rubber-faced, protean comic with always-surprising material. –Marshall Fine
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The team of Martin & Lewis (Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, of course) return to the screen in the sequel to their first film, My Friend Irma.This time, the ditzy blonde Irma (Marie Wilson) leads her roommate Jane Stacy (played by Diana Lynn), Jane’s fiancee Steve (Dean Martin), and her own boyfriend Seymour (Jerry Lewis) out west to try and break into the movies. There’s a kidnapping plot, but the highlights of the film are Martin and Lewis recreating bits of their nightclub act, such as The Vagabond Song.
Scared Stiff is a remake of the Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard comedy, The Ghost Breakers, with Dean Martin as Larry Todd, a singer who is falsely accused of murder (“You murdered a perfect stranger?” “Nobody’s perfect.”). On the run from the law, he’s accompanied by his friend Myron M. Mertz (Jerry Lewis). On the lam, they run into Mary Caroll (Lizabeth Scott), who has inherited a haunted castle from her father, where the three of them go. Once there the “ghost” makes his appearance, Dean sings, Jerry does slapstick — including an imitation of their co-star, Carmen Miranda.
In Money from Home, Gambler Honey Talk Nelson needs money to pay off his losses – quickly. He enlists the aid of his cousin Virgil, a veterinary assistant, to fix a horse race. Things become complicated when Nelson falls in love with the horse’s owner and Virgil falls in love with a veterinarian.
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Hobson’s Choice is a very enjoyable comedy. A successful businessman and widower doesn’t want his daughters to marry …. Since he would have to pay their dowry. But the oldest daughter is both intelligent and determined …
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