Review of Cinderfella

Neal Hefti wrote a piece called "Cute",Count Basie and his orchestra recorded it and Mr J.Lewis dances to it in the kitchen .That 3 minutes or so of screen time encapsulates the peak of his work in the cinema. It is touching,uplifting and very funny at the same time.In the unlikely event of my being asked to select a clip for a TV tribute I would look no further. The Cinderella story was a natural for Mr Lewis as it contains one of his favourite themes - the eventual triumph of naivety and decency over deceit and cruelty.His character has been compared to an early prototypical Jim Carrey but I would suggest Steve Martin is nearer the mark.There is a canniness about even the most stupid Carrey role that Martin lacks.He is,cinematically speaking,the idiot's idiot,and he is a direct descendant from Jerry Lewis. Right from his early days with Mr D.Martin, he has been hugely popular with the public,something that has counted against him with the critics because it meant they were unable to "discover" and fête him as their own creature.His was not "intellectual" comedy,esoteric,political or socio - satirical,he was just plain funny.It worked for me and millions of others who flocked to his pictures for 20 years.They made a lot of money and everybody was happy.With the rise of Mr W.Allen whose movies were deemed worthy of serious consideration by American critics but relatively few people paid money to see Mr Lewis's star began to descend apart from the occasional ripple like his appearance in what is virtually a show - stealing role in "King of Comedy". In the early 60s with "The Bellboy","Cinderfella" and "It's only money" under his belt he could have been forgiven for feeling just a little bit smug. "Cinderfella" may be low comedy but it is funny comedy.You don't sit there and rack your brains for some deep hidden meaning.You know the shoe is going to fit him,you know he'll end up with the girl in the end,you're just happy to go along for the ride. Miss J.Anderson,Mr H.Silva and Mr R.Hutton are deliciously rather than unpleasantly evil and Mr E.Wynn has a fine old time as the Fairy Godfather. The sound recording is outstanding,the great Count Basie orchestra blasts round the cinema in a very satisfactory manner. At 81,Mr Lewis should care less what the American critics say about him He pioneered the use of TV monitors on movie sets,ended the days of the dreaded boom mike by miking up the whole set at once,he survived the break - up of one of Hollywood's best ever movie partnerships and directed and acted in some of the funniest comedies on celluloid.I think that's enough to be going on with,don't you?