Taurog, Norman

Blue Hawaii

Elvis Presley's seventh film was the first of his "Hawaii trilogy" (including Girls! Girls! Girls! and Paradise, Hawaiian Style). While its story is daft--the King has just been released from his Army posting in Italy and returned to the islands, where he's trying to avoid working in his father's fruit business--the music is not: "Blue Hawaii," "Almost Always True," and the beautiful "Can't Help Falling in Love." Angela Lansbury plays Elvis's mother, who can't seem to get through to him. Directed by the star's frequent collaborator, Norman Taurog (G.I. Blues). --Tom Keogh

Elvis, playing an ex-G.I. beachcomber in Hawaii, goes against his mother's wishes to get a corporate job and takes a job as a tour guide, which provides him the opportunity to romance several pretty young women.
Genre: Musicals
Rating: PG
Release Date: 14-AUG-2007
Media Type: DVD

Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis Collection - Vol. 2 (You're Never Too Young / Artists and Models / Living It up / Pardners / Hollywood or Bust)

Surely even the French, with their legendary love of all things Jerry Lewis, will be sated by the Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis Collection: Vol. 2, a three-disc package containing five comedy-musicals released on DVD for the first time. It would be a supreme stretch to call any of the five films in question (You're Never Too Young, Artists and Models, Living It Up, Pardners, and Hollywood or Bust) a classic, but then, anyone looking for challenging storylines and deep characterizations probably wouldn't be here in the first place. What the films offer instead are various breezy diversions, in the form of Martin, the suave, smooth talking cad and crooner; a parade of lovely young women (Dorothy Malone, Anita Ekberg, Janet Leigh, and Shirley MacLaine among them); some terrific musical numbers that are the highlights of their respective films; and, of course, the antics of Lewis, whose capacity for slapshtick and mugging is apparently inexhaustible. By this time (the mid-1950s), the two had already fit comfortably into their respective personae, with Lewis as the naïve, ingenuous rube and Martin right there to take advantage of him. In Artists and Models, Martin's aspiring painter cops ideas from the frenzied dreams of his comics-obsessed roommate (Lewis, natch) and creates a hit comic of his own, a simple story that's derailed by an absurd and unnecessary subplot involving the U.S. government and some enemy agents. Living It Up, adapted from an earlier musical called Nothing Sacred, finds Lewis cajoled by Martin, his doctor (talk about a stretch!), into pretending that he's suffering from radiation poisoning so they can both enjoy a lavish trip to New York courtesy of a newspaper trying to boost circulation by playing up the "dying" man's plight. Hollywood or Bust, a combination road picture and gentle spoof of the movie biz, casts Martin as a gambler and con man accompanying film fanatic Lewis on a trip to Tinseltown, while Pardners is a Wild West romp ("Jerry Lewis as a gunslinger" about sums it up) and You're Never Too Young puts Lewis totally in his element as he impersonates a 12-year-old boy in order to escape bad guy Raymond Burr. The plots are thin, at best, and the songs are hardly Oscar caliber. Still, the two stars have an undeniable chemistry, and the musical set pieces are highly entertaining, most notably a sort of pas de duh (sic) between Lewis and MacLaine in Artists and Models and an eye-popping, show-stopping dance number in Living It Up. In the end, it all basically comes down to one's capacity to endure Lewis' manic mannerisms (it's worth noting that by Hollywood or Bust, the pair's last collaboration, he's pretty thoroughly upstaged by a Great Dane). If even this cornucopia isn't sufficient, perhaps a move to France is in order. The set contains no bonus material. --Sam Graham

LIVING IT UP: The 1954 Martin-and-Lewis romp Living It Up is an amusing remake of the 1937 comedy classic Nothing Sacred. More specifically, it is the film version of the Broadway musical Hazel Flagg, which was based on Nothing Sacred. The heroine of the original undergoes a sex change to become feckless Homer Flagg (Jerry Lewis), who is led to believe that he's dying of radiation poisoning. Manhattan newspaperwoman Wally Cook (Janet Leigh), hoping to improve circulation of her paper, convinces her boss, Oliver Stone (Fred Clark), to fete Homer as a hero with an all-expenses-paid trip to the Big Apple. Meanwhile, Homer learns from local doctor Steve (Dean Martin) that he isn't dying at all. But Steve talks Homer into taking advantage of the celebrity treatment bestowed on him by Wally, and a good time is had by all — until medical specialist Dr. Egelhofer (Sig Rumann) insists upon examining Homer. Highlights include a hilarious bit at Yankee Stadium, and an energetic jitterbug number featuring Jerry Lewis and Sheree North. The handful of songs retained from Hazel Flagg include "Every Street's a Boulevard in Old New York."
YOU'RE NEVER TOO YOUNG: You're Never Too Young is a slapstick-with-songs remake of the 1944 Ray Milland/Ginger Rogers vehicle The Major and the Minor. Dean Martin plays the Milland part, while Ginger's shoes are filled by...Jerry Lewis? Lewis plays an apprentice barber who inadvertently crosses a homicidal jewel thief (Raymond Burr), and equally inadvertently hightails it out of town with the crook's jewels in his possession. Desperate to escape the crook's clutches, and lacking the necessary funds for a train ticket, Lewis disguises himself as a 12-year-old boy so he can travel half fare. He latches onto Dean, a music teacher heading for an all-girls school. After innumerable routines sparked by Lewis's adolescent disguise, the jewel thief catches up with him, leading to a rollicking climactic speedboat chase. Dean Martin has plenty of opportunities to serenade leading lady Diana Lynn (who'd played a supporting role in The Major and the Minor), while Jerry Lewis is in peak form doing his usual "waah-waah-waah" schtick. The original Billy Wilder/Charles Brackett script for The Major and the Minor was reshaped into You're Never Too Young by future bestselling novelist Sidney Sheldon.
ARTISTS AND MODELS: Bearing very little relation to the 1937 Paramount musical of the same name, Artists and Models is a lavish, girl-filled vehicle for the popular team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Martin plays Rick Todd, a comic-book artist who is under fire from his publisher (Eddie Mayehoff), who complains that Rick's work isn't gory enough. Lewis plays Eugene Fullstack, Rick's roommate, who while asleep dreams up elaborate comic-book plots and garishly costumed superheroes. Eugene's nightmares help Rick become a success; meanwhile, our two heroes romance their luscious neighbors, artist Dorothy Malone and rambunctious model Shirley MacLaine (who during one song wrestles Eugene to the floor and sits on his chest!) Eugene's overworked imagination somehow attracts the attention of a group of Russian spies, who attempt to abduct Eugene during the annual Artists and Models Ball. Director Frank Tashlin uses Artists and Models as an excuse for some of the wildest sight-gags seen in a mid-1950s film. At one point, the director contrives to stuff a gag in Shirley MacLaine's mouth. Tashlin also exhibits his ongoing fascination with female breasts and legs by giving ample screen time to the natural attributes of co-stars Anita Ekberg and Zsa Zsa Gabor. One of the best of the Martin/Lewis efforts, Artists and Models suffers only from being about 20 minutes too long.
PARDNERS: This Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis romp is liberally based on the 1936 Bing Crosby film Rhythm on the Range. Set around 1910, the film stars Lewis as the pampered son of female tycoon Agnes Moorehead. Yearning to return to the Wild West where his father was a famed peacekeeper, Lewis purchases a prize bull, destined for the ranch inherited by rodeo star Dean Martin. It so happens that Martin and Lewis' late fathers were "pardners", so Martin takes it upon himself to protect Lewis from the various and sundry tough hombres in the region. Through a series of bizarre plot convolutions, Lewis gains a reputation as a rootin' tootin' gunslinger, and in his hubris he decides to round up a gang of outlaws headed by Jeff Morrow. As a result, he nearly gets himself blown to smitherines, but Martin shows up in the nick of time to rescue Lewis and help him capture the bad guys. Lori Nelson and Jackie Loughery supply the film's peripheral romantic angle. Pardners ends with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis turning to the camera and promising that they'll keep on making pictures for their faithful fans; ironically, the team was breaking up even while the cameras were turning.
HOLLYWOOD OR BUST: Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made their last joint film appearance in the girl-filled musical Hollywood or Bust. The thinnish plot finds inveterate film fan Jerry making a cross-country journey to Tinseltown for the purpose of meeting his favorite screen star, the buxom Anita Ekberg (the film's title, need it be added, has a double meaning). Dean goes along for the ride, hoping to expand his bankroll during a Las Vegas stopover. The boys are joined by a third traveller, an enormous Great Dane named Mr. Bascomb; along the way, the trio becomes a quartet when pretty Pat Crowley hitches a ride. The finale takes place in Hollywood, naturally, as Jerry wreaks havoc at a film studio which looks suspiciously like Paramount. All reports indicate that Hollywood and Bust was an unhappy shoot, with Jerry Lewis behaving so obstreperously that director Frank Tashlin ordered him off the set and told him to go home until he learned to behave himself; to this day, Lewis cannot bring himself to watch the film. Happily, the animosity between the two stars never comes across on screen, and as a result Hollywood or Bust is a most enjoyable diversion.

Elvis - The Hollywood Collection (Charro / Girl Happy / Kissin' Cousins / Live a Little, Love a Little / Stay Away, Joe / Tickle Me)

Six movies featuring the king of rock & roll Elvis Presley are featured on this collection. The titles included are CHARRO; GIRL HAPPY; KISSIN' COUSINS; LIVE A LITTLE LOVE A LITTLE; STAY AWAY JOE; and TICKLE ME.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 085391148241 Manufacturer No: 114824

Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis Collection - Vol. 1 (The Caddy / Jumping Jacks / My Friend Irma / My Friend Irma Goes West / Sailor Beware / Scared Stiff / That's My Boy)

Includes: My Friend Irma My Friend Irma Goes WestThat's My BoySailor BewareJumping JacksThe StoogeScared StiffThe Caddy System Requirements:Run Time: 794 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 097360413748 Manufacturer No: 041374

A nightclub act with a handsome singer and an anarchic monkey-boy became a potent box-office force in the early 1950s. Although their wild live antics never translated intact to the screen, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were an instant movie hit; they had two films in the box-office top ten of 1951, and another two in the top ten of 1952. Paramount repays this effort with its Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis Collection, Volume One, which gathers most of their early efforts at the studio.

Martin and Lewis were introduced in 1949's My Friend Irma, a big-screen version of a popular radio show. The boys are in support, but their high jinks were the hit of the movie, and their portion of screen time ballooned in My Friend Irma Goes West, which they basically take over. Both movies are enjoyable comedies, and especially in the sequel Lewis's lunatic style of mugging, vocal calisthenics, and physical shtick makes him look like an animal uncaged.

Not included in this set is their first starring vehicle, At War with the Army. The next six consecutive films are here, beginning with one of their best, 1951's That's My Boy. Jerry plays the athletically hopeless son of a famous football hero (Eddie Mayehoff, a funny man). It's a measure of how much Lewis had grabbed the public's imagination that Dino doesn't show up until the film is 20 minutes old. (Lewis later wrote that he arranged for "That's Amore" to be included in The Caddy to bolster Martin's popularity.) Also from 1951, Sailor Beware is a service comedy with some hilarious sequences--Lewis conducting a male chorus, for instance, or undergoing a slightly surreal medical exam--and the team still has a freshness despite the movie formula. Their timing together in the punchdrunk-boxer routine shows some of the chemistry they must have had onstage.

Jumping Jacks (1952) is the least of Martin & Lewis's service comedies, with Lewis as a showbiz performer who pretends to be in the military as a favor to Dean. The Stooge, same year, is one of their best teamings, this time with a touch of pathos along with the laughs: Martin is a self-centered singer who can't acknowledge that his hired stooge is the reason his act is boffo. Along with the backstage stuff, the movie demonstrates how skilled Lewis's singing was, even in a comic purpose.

1953's Scared Stiff is a warmed-over remake of the Bob Hope comedy The Ghost Breakers, and shows that the boys were overworked; the story is lame and the clowning feels more desperate (although Lewis has a few moments imitating co-star Carmen Miranda). In The Caddy, from the same year, Martin indulges his real-life passion for golf, and Lewis plays the neglected caddy. It's a return to form, borrowing a Stooge vibe, and boasts an odd framing story with the boys playing a nightclub act very much like Martin & Lewis.

Unless you're already a fan, your enthusiasm for this set will depend on your tolerance for Jerry Lewis and his manic, childlike dementia. Either you'll laugh, resist, or become fascinated at the naked, look-at-me neediness of his act. Dean Martin can be appreciated for the difficult job of playing straight man to this craziness (notice, too, how his singing voice comes into its own, from imitation Bing Crosby in the first couple of pictures to the familiar, relaxed style of vintage Dino). The DVD set provides no supporting features, but this is the first chapter of a hugely profitable and popular showbiz phenomenon. Just one more thing: "Who's your little whoozis? Who's your toitle dove?" --Robert Horton

That Midnight Kiss / The Toast of New Orleans

THAT MIDNIGHT KISS: Mario Lanza plays a singing truck driver who travels the road to success and romance in THAT MIDNIGHT KISS.TOAST OF NEW ORLEANS: A New Orleans fisherman falls for an opera star and subsequently becomes one himself.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS Rating: NR UPC: 012569795303 Manufacturer No: 79530

Boys Town

Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney both won Oscars(R) in 1938 for their work in this touching and inspirational story of Father Flanagan and his young delinquent charges. Year: 1938 Director: Norman Taurog Starring: Spencer Tracy Mickey Rooney Henry HullRunning Time: 93 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569677142

Spencer Tracy won an Oscar for his portrayal of Father Flanagan, who opens Boys Town and dedicates himself to helping juvenile delinquents go straight. Mickey Rooney plays one of the tougher kids, figuring out early on that Flanagan is nobody's fool. Warmhearted and inspiring, the film's inevitable sentimentality is nicely cut by Tracy's performance and a smart script by Eleanore Griffin and Dore Schary (who also won Oscars). A good film for all ages, directed by Norman Taurog (Adventures of Tom Sawyer). --Tom Keogh

G.I. Blues (Widescreen)

Tulsa, a singing G.I. in West Germany bets he can spend the night with Lili, a supposedly hard hearted club dancer.
Genre: Musicals
Rating: PG
Release Date: 14-AUG-2007
Media Type: DVD

After Elvis Presley got out of the army in 1960, he was instantly ushered into this Paramount movie about an Oklahoma singer who (surprise) gets out of the army and wants to open a club. Making a potentially lucrative bet that he can seduce a cabaret singer (Juliet Prowse), Elvis instead falls in love. Refurbished from his rockabilly roots into a slicker model for early-'60s pop, the Elvis of this movie is the one who made almost 30 more just like it. The songs include the title track, plus "It's Not Good Enough for You," "Tonight Is So Right for Love," and "Wooden Heart." Directed by Norman Taurog, a studio veteran who made his first film in 1928 and worked numerous times with Presley as well as Jerry Lewis. --Tom Keogh

Broadway Melody of 1940

One of the most famous tap numbers in film history distinguishes Broadway Melody of 1940, the fourth and final installment in MGM's Broadway Melody series. When Clare Bennett (Eleanor Powell, who had appeared in Broadway Melody of 1936 and 1938) needs a new partner for her hit Broadway show, small-time hoofers Johnny Brett (Fred Astaire in his MGM debut) and King Shaw (George Murphy) get their big chance. But due to a case of mistaken identity, King, rather than the more talented Johnny, gets the job, and the girl. Astaire and Powell can't match the chemistry he had with Ginger Rogers at RKO, but she was the best technical dancer he was ever teamed with, and the sense of fun they share is infectious. Their above-mentioned tap duet to Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine" is legendary, but there are other fine moments as well: Astaire and Murphy's duet "Please Don't Monkey with Broadway," Powell's athletic number with a chorus of sailors "I Am the Captain," Astaire playing the piano and singing "I've Got My Eyes on You," and his and Powell's high-velocity duet "Jukebox Dance." --David Horiuchi

Girls Girls Girls (1962)

Hawaii seems like an afterthought in Elvis's second island outing. Half the musical numbers take place on boats (including the seasick-making title tune) and half in a Trader Vic's-style nightclub, so there's little good use of the exotic locale. There's little use of that lovable dish Stella Stevens, either, who's relegated to "other woman" duty as Elvis courts bland Laurel Goodwin. Goodwin's a rich girl going incognito, while E.P. is a penniless fisherman who dreams of owning his own boat. You finish the plot. The King is in good voice here, although the songs are fairly weak, with some curious flings at calypso and flamenco mixed in. He comes to shoulder-shaking life for "Return to Sender," a sizzling number that shows how his entire being could be possessed by a musical moment. This movie doesn't have enough of those to boost it into the upper tier of Elvis pictures. --Robert Horton

Blue Hawaii / Paradise, Hawaiian Style (Double Feature)

Blue HawaiiThe year was 1961. Fallout shelters dot suburban backyards. Ken joins Barbie. Roger Maris slugs 61 home runs. And Elvis Presley is in paradise playing an ex-G.I. who comes home to Blue Hawaii. His mother (Angela Lansbury) expects him to climb the corporate ladder. But Elvis would rather wear an aloha shirt than a white collar so he goes to work as a tour guide. Lucky Elvis: his first customers are a careful of cuties. Elvis lovely scenery lovelier girls and rock-a-hula songs - now that's paradise!Paradise Hawaiian StyleThe year was 1966. A little-known series called Star Trek. beams up. Valley of the Dolls is the hot book. Half of all TVs sold are color sets. And in Paradise Hawaiian Style Elvis takes to the skies over the island paradise of Kauai. He's a partner in a helicopter charter service. Romance naturally is in the air for the King...but his business may be grounded. A threatened suspension of his pilot's license means he may have to kiss his assets goodbye.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS UPC: 097361320748 Manufacturer No: 132074