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Onkel Joakims hemmelighed (1967)
Now, let's sing a song
Let me start to tell you a little thing about Danish films in the 60s. Mostly it would be a comedy, mostly the film would contain 3-5, mostly terrible, songs, and more often than not it would star Dirch Passer and Ove Sprogøe. This film has all of that.
The main story folds out in a little bar / restaurant in Copenhagen, Trinidad it's called. Owned by a very nice old man, Joachim. We meet the regulars, amongst them we see a man called Grev Fingernem (translates to something like Count Deftness) a pocket thief (Passer). After a couple of days we hear that Joachim has died and that his niece Eva (Vivi Bach) is to inherit the bar. Soon after she arrives, trying to find out if she will keep the bar. A bar located precisely where a criminal boss Schwartz (Sprogøe) would like to have a stronghold in the capital. But the regulars won't have it, and of course, together they beat the bad guy.
The film also contents a love story and a cheating upper class man. But honestly you don't want to know about that, as little as you ever want to see this film.
The Ladies Man (1961)
Classic Lewis
The quality of a Jerry Lewis is very varying. But here (1961) we see Jerry directing this well made movie. The gags are quick and funny and not outstaying their welcome. It starts the day when Herbert Herbert Heebert (Jerry Lewis) is graduating in the small town of Milltown, NJ. He is followed by his parents, and we see a very, very ugly mother (played by Jerry) but Herbert is in a rush to meet his sweetheart Faith, but unfortunately she is found smooching with another guy. Herbert is devastated, and decides to leave his hometown and never again have anything to do with women. He ends up in Hollywood, where he tries to find a job. He ends up in a big building, here they're looking for a handyman. He meets Kathy who also are serving there (the always good Kathleen Freeman). The problem that Herbert is still oblivious to, the house is housing 30 girls trying to get jobs in film. Not the vest thing for the poor Herbert but he soldiers on, and soon both the girls and Herbert are satisfied with the arrangement.
This is certainly one of the very best Jerry Lewis films. One will probably remember Herbert helping the sad girl (Pat Stanley) and doing a danceact with the beautiful Sylvia Lewis. But also you'll get to see George Raft dancing with a man, of course Jerry. Plus a very funny scene where Buddy Lester is being torn to pieces by a neverous Herbert. All in all the film gives this wonderful 60-feeling. Recommended.
Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958)
For a very rainy day
One can't help but liking Jerry Lewis. But one have to admit that the quality of his films varies a lot. This is from 1958 and according to IMDb this is a comedy / musical and that's the closest you can come. There's six songs and they could easily have cut that down to one, they're really not any good.
Another minus is that couple of the gags on the film goes on for far too long. The scene with the water hose and the one where Jerry tries his luck as different TV-hosts, they could easily have been cut in half.
Now the film is about TV repairman Clayton (Lewis). He lives in a small town by himself missing his teenage love Clara (Marilyn Maxwell), but she has fled the town and is now a star in Hollywood. She has a recent problem because she is four months pregnant, and is worried about her image. Her next film is to start shooting in a year in Egypt. So she calculate that she has time to give birth and let someone else take care of the child, and still be able to make the film. The only person she could think of to do this important job is of cause good old Clayton, a simp even before that word was invented. The birth goes well, and the result is not one but three girls. Clayton takes on the task, helped by Carla's sister Sandy (Connie Stevens) and Carla and Sandy's father (Salvatore Baccaloni).
Of course Sandy is very much in love with Clayton will she be able to convince him to forget Clara and fall in love with her. So if it's a very rainy day, and not much to do, you could find this film and find out for yourself.
The Patsy (1964)
One of Lewis' better 60-films
Jerry Lewis directing Jerry Lewis, shouldn't that go wrong? No not really. The Lewis-films nearly always rely on his physical acting, which must be seen as his strongest asset. This is also true in "The Patsy" and it's actually going very well. At least for the first hour of the film. Perhaps it should have been a little shorter.
Jerry plays the bellhop Stanley, who serves at a hotel. Now in that hotel a group of employees of a newly dead comedian are talking about their future. One of them Morgan Heywood (played by Peter Lorre) gets the idea to find a man that they first of all can control, and secondly teach the trade of entertainment. After Stanley have tried to serve the team champagne (with ice, wet ice!) They find that he well be the perfect new man. Now this starts the most fun part of the film, he tries his luck at singing recording and what else he needs to know. Along the way the secretary of the team Ellen (Ina Balin) and Stanley falls in love. All that takes about an hour, sadly the last 40 minutes doesn't live up to the good start. The solution to, if Stanley will be successful and if he and Ellen will be a pair. Guess yourselves our even better see the film.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Is this really Hitchcock?
This film was made in 1956. At this time Hitchcock has made films like "To Catch a Thief" and "Rear Window". This certainly doesn't reach that quality. Funny enough it's his second try, as he made the first version on 1934. The two leads played by James Stewart and Doris Day, both are very fine actors, and I guess the only reason they accepted this film is because Hitchcock was the director. At the time Hitchcock had to make one more film for Paramount to fulfill his contract, but was his heart in it? Well, it doesn't show. The very thin plot is about the assassination of the English prime minister starting off in Morocco. Already from the start it's a case of very bad overacting from most actors except from the leads. Probably Ace Ventura could learn a thing or two! Not a must see.