Charles Synyard on Nostr: Yesterday saw another marvel of a film from Jerry Lewis, The Ladies Man (1961). ...

Yesterday saw another marvel of a film from Jerry Lewis, The Ladies Man (1961). Available on BitChute. https://www.bitchute.com/video/XVZH5olcwuEP In my estimation, Jerry Lewis is the greatest genius Hollywood has produced. Or at least I feel the more certain of that every time I watch something he had a hand in crafting. As in The Bellboy, not far beneath surface humor is an incredibly self-aware artist who simply revels in what he can do. The Ladies Man surprised me. Given the title, I had expected a repeat of You’re Never Too Young, which he did with Dean Martin and which featured many beautiful girls, amongst whom Lewis becomes an unexpectedly popular “lucky guy”. Here to be sure, Lewis does have his pathetic, put-upon nerd persona, and in the opening minutes there’s the conventional hint of implicitly Jewish envy, when his dream All-American girl is taken by a faceless jock in a team sweater, leading to his disgust with womankind. Yet, he soon lands a job in an all-female boarding house, but it struck me that the actresses didn’t seem chosen for exceptional beauty. There is some romance, but this is no harem: the main interest in the women is their personal quirks and how they fill their environment. The setting is one of the main attractions. As you can see, the boarding house was built as a giant, open-sided, real life doll house, per Lewis‘s instructions. No effort is made to hide that it is a set, either: the earnest acting is reminiscent of the suspense of disbelief we have while playing with toys. At one point a television crew does a shoot for TV inside the house, and the evident fascination with filming and broadcast technology has a play-within-the-play quality to it. Alongside frequent gags, there are astounding flights into fancy. My favorite when Lewis’s character walks into the forbidden Miss Cartilage’s room, and enters a realm furnished in an unearthly silver. Miss Cartilage hangs from the ceiling like a spider or a vampire, then descends, and they dance to a band on a balcony beneath a painted sky. When Lewis leaves the room, it is as if nothing strange has taken place. The scene does not seem to have any meaning apart from its stunning beauty. Richly recommended. Hope to watch more Jerry Lewis soon. #JerryLewis #TheLadiesMan #romance #comedy #Hollywood #classicmovies #classicfilms #movies #films #directing #art #BitChute