Artists and Models. 1955. Directed by Frank Tashlin.

(8/21/00-8/25/00)

This film reminded me that there was a lot of controversy about comic books in the mid-1950s. And here it turns up in a movie with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

I enjoyed it for a while, but then lost interest (perhaps because I was tired). The best moment is Jerry Lewis's confrontation with the model who portays the "Bat Lady," the start of the comic book he is addicted to. We are shown the artist and the model before Lewis comes to the door, he turns aside rehearsing what he is going to say to the neighbor he is told is a successful artist, and then we get the payoff we have been waiting for as Lewis goes crazy.

The rest of the film isn't as good, alas. I couldn't understand how Jerry Lewis went from being a comic book fan to an anti-comic book panelist on a TV discussion. I didn't like Dean Martin's aggressive pursuit of the heroine. (When Sean Connery was aggressive like that it seemed entirely natural and appropriate; Martin was merely obnoxious.) The songs were pleasant but certainly not memorable. And the scene that Jerry Lewis did with Shirley MacClaine on the stairs (I can't even remember if it was a musical number) grated on me.

The whole thing about Martin's comic book inadvertently having part of a secret formula and him and Lewis being pursued by foreign spies was just irritating. That was the worst part of the whole picture.
I think that more should have been done with Martin's creating a comic feature based on Lewis talking in his sleep. That was the aspect of the story that should have been developed.

The fact that Shirley MacLaine wanted Jerry Lewis to love her for herself and not for the fact that she was the Bat Lady was of course reminiscent of Superman and Lois Lane.