Seen on the big screen, Frank Tashlin's ARTIST AND MODELS is one of the most colorful live action move ever made. It's also probably the best movie made by Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. Martin is a comic book artist with little talent who takes room-mate Lewis's flights of fancy as his own. As in all Martin & Lewis films, mayhem ensues. It's fast paced, very funny, and very enjoyable. How can anyone not like movie with characters named Eugene Fullstack and Bessie Sparrowbrush? Martin and Lewis are in fine form and the supporting cast is exceptional. Dorothy Malone, Eva Gabor, Anita Ekberg and, best of all, Shirley MacLaine. It also helps to have the likes of Eddie Mayehoff and Jack Elam (as Ivan) in the mix. Daniel L. Fapp provided the extremely vivid cinematography. The clever art direction is by Hal Pereira, who had a hand in virtually every Paramount release during the 1950s and 60s.
33 Reviews
A 'modern' slapstick, I like it!
Boba_Fett113824 February 2010
Lets face it, attempts to make a slapstick comedy, done after the '40's, can hardly be called good or successful ones. This movie however does work out surprisingly and it's one that is hard not to enjoy and will make you laugh, guaranteed. In all honesty, it's one of the most amusing comedies I have ever seen.
It's a movie filled with lots of physical humor, mostly coming from Jerry Lewis of course. This at the same time of course means that there is not much to the story but still the movie has a good script, which story provides the movie with plenty of fun and good characters and some nice comical situations. Still the movie at times feels as if it's trying to have too much story in it, which makes the movie drag a bit at times, certainly toward the end. It also makes the movie a bit overlong and it also easily could had been a shorter one had it cut out some of its lesser story lines. The movie should had focused more only on its comedy.
It's definitely not a too impressive looking movie. The movie didn't cost a lot of money to make. Not that it matters too much for the movie but its quality will probably still put off some people.
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were a screen-duo that appeared in quite a few comedies together. Lewis was there for playing the goofy characters and for adding most of the slapstick comedy of the movie, while Dean Martin was mostly there to play the pretty guy and to provide the movie with his singing skills. Kind of a strange and also unlikely duo but it worked out very well within their films. For this movie a whole bunch of other well known actors showed up. Cameos was a thing that became big and mostly popular in the '50's and lost of well known persons show up in this movie, though most of them just aren't that well known and recognizable this present day. The movie further more also features Shirley MacLaine and Eva Gabor among others in some big roles.
All in all a movie that I enjoyed watching and made me really laugh more than once.
7/10
http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
It's a movie filled with lots of physical humor, mostly coming from Jerry Lewis of course. This at the same time of course means that there is not much to the story but still the movie has a good script, which story provides the movie with plenty of fun and good characters and some nice comical situations. Still the movie at times feels as if it's trying to have too much story in it, which makes the movie drag a bit at times, certainly toward the end. It also makes the movie a bit overlong and it also easily could had been a shorter one had it cut out some of its lesser story lines. The movie should had focused more only on its comedy.
It's definitely not a too impressive looking movie. The movie didn't cost a lot of money to make. Not that it matters too much for the movie but its quality will probably still put off some people.
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were a screen-duo that appeared in quite a few comedies together. Lewis was there for playing the goofy characters and for adding most of the slapstick comedy of the movie, while Dean Martin was mostly there to play the pretty guy and to provide the movie with his singing skills. Kind of a strange and also unlikely duo but it worked out very well within their films. For this movie a whole bunch of other well known actors showed up. Cameos was a thing that became big and mostly popular in the '50's and lost of well known persons show up in this movie, though most of them just aren't that well known and recognizable this present day. The movie further more also features Shirley MacLaine and Eva Gabor among others in some big roles.
All in all a movie that I enjoyed watching and made me really laugh more than once.
7/10
http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
lukewarm
paulbrr1216 May 2010
Well it looks like I will be the first reviewer to give Artists and Models a lukewarm opinion. Saw this on the big screen today at a downtown theater. With Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine,Dorothy Malone and Eva Gabor and the most fun I wind up having is with Eddie Mayehoff! Loved his portrayal of publisher Murdock. I don't know...to me, this movie just got more boring as it dragged on. While I do love all the vintage set designs, vintage wardrobe and remembrances of how things used to be-one pay phone in the hall for an apartment building, Dean scrubbing up in a bathtub before a shower became common and the historical fact that comic books were once decried as evil by the bastions of society, I still had to fight off massive amounts of sleepiness as this grinded to its conclusion. I don't know...maybe it was just the mood I was in. It WAS very colorful and Martin can't keep from smiling even when he's supposed to be mad which is amusing but, Gabor was a disappointment and Malone was kind of blah and Jerry, I was just kind of bored with his schtick today. But yes the highlight for me was Mr. Murdock played by Eddie Mayehoff.
The Best From Dino and Jerry
Sargebri7 May 2003
This is probably the best of the films featuring Martin and Lewis. This film is also a fine parody due to the fact that this film was shot during the period when there it was being debated over how the comic books that were out during that time were affecting children (those arguments would lead to the "comics code"). The other highlight of this film was looking at Shirley MacLaine was chasing after Jerry (the girl must have needed glasses). These scenes provide much of the humor as Jerry's character Eugene is scared to death of the aggressive Betsy. Its also interesting to note that MacLaine's character Betsy is interested in astrology and MacLaine would later become known for her new age interests, including astrology.
Malone...Maclaine...Gabor and Ekberg need to say more???
elo-equipamentos10 May 2018
Probable one the most awaited movie from the duo comic Lewis & Martin,now an official release just came out with those remastered images that allow us to see so many gorgeous gils, funny story where Jerry Lewis makes a dumb guy addicted in comic books including weird dreams with their own crazy characters, bored when Martin has your old-fashioned songs, becomes a nightmare to me, on Lewis acting the life comeback to the picture!!
Resume:
First watch: 1979 / How many: 4 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7
Resume:
First watch: 1979 / How many: 4 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7
Frank Tashlin and Technicolor
craig-11121 May 2003
Yes, Jerry Lewis can get annoying, but this movie is worth seeing just for the visuals. As in Cinderfella, the clothes and sets are all too broad and too bright for real life. Tashlin has a talent for making Lewis's mugging work more often than not.
Fanciful conventional fluff from Martin and Lewis
The-Last-Prydonian27 December 2017
1955 vehicle for long time film comedy partners, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Here they played painter Rick Todd, and his friend and roommate Eugene Fullstack, a comic book enthusiast who talks in his sleep. In doing so her narrates adventure stories in his slumber. The struggling artist that Rick is, he seeks to exploit the situation to his advantage. In the same apartment building lives Abigail Parker, (Dorothy Malone) who works as an artist for the comic book that Eugene is a huge fan of. She shares a flat with Bessie (Shirley MacLaine), who models for Abigail's artwork. Fate brings all four of them together, and Bessie finds herself falling for Eugene.
Marking the fourteenth pairing together of then major Hollywood stars Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as a comedy duo (although Martin had been a professional singer who found himself eventually teaming up with Lewis), it was a collaboration that had unsurprisingly proven to be a fruitful one given their success. With Artists and Models it seems it may have been something of a problematic shoot seeing as it went $100,000 over budget which was a considerable sum back then and may have set alarm bells going for regular movie goers, and professional movies critics. However, while far from being a classic of 1950's cinema, the movie makes for a palatable enough diversion. they pretty much played to what had now become established form. Playing very much to established type as aspiring artist, Rick Todd and his roommate and amiable, would be children's author Eugene Full Stack, the two men bounce effortlessly off one another. Rick is the smooth talking, self-assured ladies man while Eugene is the goofy man-child, with the former acting in something of big brother role to his more naive, sweet natured companion. For all of what could potentially be a potentially sleazy charmer, Martin as he did with his past characters manages to be likeable with a subtle vulnerability. He clearly loves his close friend even though we see him him become disenchanted with the burdensome complexion of their relationship.
As their neighbors in the apartment building where the two leads live, Dorothy Malone and Shirley MacLaine portray professional artist, Abigail Parker and her friend Bessie Sparrowbush who models for her drawings. They act as female counterparts (with Eugene ultimately modelling for Dorothy) and the obligatory love interests as Bessie develops a crush on Eugene, and Rick's affections for his fellow artist become plane to see. Their respective relationships are deftly contrasted with their being a growing smoldering, sexual tension between Rick and Dorothy, while there is a more innocent, coy playfulness between Eugene and Bessie. However, due to the attitudes and standards of today's more "progressive" and "politically correct" age, Rick's come on's Abigail's might been seen less than harmless flirtations than they are acts of harassment. This is even though it becomes abundantly apparent due to her simmering that she is indeed attracted to the good looking Lothario and is playing hard to get. While the dynamic of the male/female gender roles might prove offensive for some, I personally find it hard to care and while not necessarily defending Ricks behaviour, I was willing to see it as a historical reflection of the mores and customs of the era.
The movie's slight plot which relies heavily on well worn conventions does on the other hand does give Rick something of a moral quandary, with his loyal associate narrating outlandish sci-fi stories in his sleep which he ponders on exploiting for financial gain by selling them to comic book magnate Mr. Murdock (a droll, forthright Eddie Mayehoff). It's peppered with trademark musical interludes, which while bright and breezy bow to conformity with the endearingly scene of the artist performing a sing and dance routine in the street with a little girl while passersby and onlookers smile inanely. It's fanciful stuff by contemporary standards but enjoyable if derivative.
There are also a string of requisite comedy scenarios which range from Eugene sitting down to a largely imaginary meal with Rick, to the lovable goofball's visit to a massage therapist upon to fix his sacroiliac which descends in to absurd and comical complications. And it's this sense of absurdity that moves in to the movie's final act, as by a bizarre improbable twist of fate, Eugene's slumberous ramblings have inadvertently revealed intel which provokes the interest of both the American CIA and Russian KGB. It's the kind of standard trope that became typical fare in the then present and future comedies. It all culminates in a predictable stand-off towards it's denouement before the four main protagonists take their figurative final bows, and to summarize it's charming if modest fluff at best with some funny moments and well performed musical numbers (although MacLaine does overstretch her vocal abilities in a scene she shares with Lewis) that while dated to some extent, is largely inoffensive if you don't take it too seriously. A movie you could sit down and watch with you grandmother, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Marking the fourteenth pairing together of then major Hollywood stars Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as a comedy duo (although Martin had been a professional singer who found himself eventually teaming up with Lewis), it was a collaboration that had unsurprisingly proven to be a fruitful one given their success. With Artists and Models it seems it may have been something of a problematic shoot seeing as it went $100,000 over budget which was a considerable sum back then and may have set alarm bells going for regular movie goers, and professional movies critics. However, while far from being a classic of 1950's cinema, the movie makes for a palatable enough diversion. they pretty much played to what had now become established form. Playing very much to established type as aspiring artist, Rick Todd and his roommate and amiable, would be children's author Eugene Full Stack, the two men bounce effortlessly off one another. Rick is the smooth talking, self-assured ladies man while Eugene is the goofy man-child, with the former acting in something of big brother role to his more naive, sweet natured companion. For all of what could potentially be a potentially sleazy charmer, Martin as he did with his past characters manages to be likeable with a subtle vulnerability. He clearly loves his close friend even though we see him him become disenchanted with the burdensome complexion of their relationship.
As their neighbors in the apartment building where the two leads live, Dorothy Malone and Shirley MacLaine portray professional artist, Abigail Parker and her friend Bessie Sparrowbush who models for her drawings. They act as female counterparts (with Eugene ultimately modelling for Dorothy) and the obligatory love interests as Bessie develops a crush on Eugene, and Rick's affections for his fellow artist become plane to see. Their respective relationships are deftly contrasted with their being a growing smoldering, sexual tension between Rick and Dorothy, while there is a more innocent, coy playfulness between Eugene and Bessie. However, due to the attitudes and standards of today's more "progressive" and "politically correct" age, Rick's come on's Abigail's might been seen less than harmless flirtations than they are acts of harassment. This is even though it becomes abundantly apparent due to her simmering that she is indeed attracted to the good looking Lothario and is playing hard to get. While the dynamic of the male/female gender roles might prove offensive for some, I personally find it hard to care and while not necessarily defending Ricks behaviour, I was willing to see it as a historical reflection of the mores and customs of the era.
The movie's slight plot which relies heavily on well worn conventions does on the other hand does give Rick something of a moral quandary, with his loyal associate narrating outlandish sci-fi stories in his sleep which he ponders on exploiting for financial gain by selling them to comic book magnate Mr. Murdock (a droll, forthright Eddie Mayehoff). It's peppered with trademark musical interludes, which while bright and breezy bow to conformity with the endearingly scene of the artist performing a sing and dance routine in the street with a little girl while passersby and onlookers smile inanely. It's fanciful stuff by contemporary standards but enjoyable if derivative.
There are also a string of requisite comedy scenarios which range from Eugene sitting down to a largely imaginary meal with Rick, to the lovable goofball's visit to a massage therapist upon to fix his sacroiliac which descends in to absurd and comical complications. And it's this sense of absurdity that moves in to the movie's final act, as by a bizarre improbable twist of fate, Eugene's slumberous ramblings have inadvertently revealed intel which provokes the interest of both the American CIA and Russian KGB. It's the kind of standard trope that became typical fare in the then present and future comedies. It all culminates in a predictable stand-off towards it's denouement before the four main protagonists take their figurative final bows, and to summarize it's charming if modest fluff at best with some funny moments and well performed musical numbers (although MacLaine does overstretch her vocal abilities in a scene she shares with Lewis) that while dated to some extent, is largely inoffensive if you don't take it too seriously. A movie you could sit down and watch with you grandmother, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Not great...but what Martin & Lewis film is?!
planktonrules28 October 2010
Rick and Eugene (Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis) are roommates and artists. Business is not good. However, Eugene's crazy dreams (influenced by his constantly reading comic books) which keep Rick asleep turn out to be a GOOD thing, as he talks them out in his sleep--and Rick then writes down what Eugene says and puts them in a comic book! The kids love 'em and this comic book world also brings them into contact with two cuties--Abigale (Dorothy Malone) for Rick and Bessie (Shirley MacLaine) is smitten with Eugene. On a cute twist, when Eugene first sees Bessie, she is dressed up as a model for Abigale to draw--and she is dressed as 'Bat Lady'. Eugen is smitten....but not so smitten with her when she's in her normal guise--and he doesn't know they are the same person! Later, it turns out that the material Eugene unknowingly gives Rick happens to miraculously have fragments of US Government secrets. And, spies are interested in find out more! Rick quickly picks up on this and alerts the government--who then ask Rick to go along with the spies and to let himself get vamped (by Eva Gabor) so he can learn more about her organization--but his girlfriend (Malone) is not amused. Tune in if you want to find out what happens next.
Overall, while this is not a great film (understanding I am NOT a Martin & Lewis fan), it does have some clever moments and is pleasant. I especially liked the weird inside jokes--such as one making fun of Jimmy Stewart and "The Rear Window" and liked seeing Eugene sign his name on the easel near the end. But, the film also is pretty low-brow and only pleasant. But the plot is very original and I have to give the film some credit for this.
Overall, while this is not a great film (understanding I am NOT a Martin & Lewis fan), it does have some clever moments and is pleasant. I especially liked the weird inside jokes--such as one making fun of Jimmy Stewart and "The Rear Window" and liked seeing Eugene sign his name on the easel near the end. But, the film also is pretty low-brow and only pleasant. But the plot is very original and I have to give the film some credit for this.
The best Martin and Lewis movie!
munkeylove1810 December 2005
I first saw this movie in the 90's with my mother, a huge Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis fan. To this day it is my favorite movie from their pairing. The two play roommates who sing, dance, and at one point consider getting a divorce while trying to pay the rent on their NYC flat. They have a run-in of sorts with their upstairs neighbors and of course, all hilarity ensues. One of my favorite parts of the movie, however, is Shirley MacLaine, in her second movie role. She steals scenes from Lewis every chance she gets and is simply hilarious! The scene between her and Lewis on the stairs is one of my favorite movie moments of all time! I only wish MacLaine had gotten to make more movies with Lewis; they make for a pretty funny pair on screen! Watch for the scene between Martin and the little girl on the street; its a great song with some pretty impressive dancing on both parts. A great movie to watch if you're a fan of Lewis, Martin, or MacLaine.
One of my least favorite Martin & Lewis flicks...but does have a few highlights
vincentlynch-moonoi10 August 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This is one of my least favorite Martin & Lewis pics. And I imagine Dean wasn't particular thrilled with some aspects of it. For example, the first song in the film ("When You Pretend") is sort of a duet with Jerry, who sings it badly as he almost always sang; Dean did go on to record it for Capital Records. He gets his own first song with "You Look So Familiar", which he sings about as poorly as you'll see in any of his films; his Capital recording of the song is quite good, however. He fares much better with his own mini-production number of "My Lucky Song"...one of my favorite songs by Dean in any of his Martin & Lewis films. And, later in the film he has "Innamorata", which became a minor hit for Dean at #27 on the Billboard charts. He also has the title song, sung over the credits.
Unfortunately, Eva Gabor proves the Gabor sisters couldn't act...but at least it's Eva and not Zsa Zsa! One comedy sequence I thought was too much -- taking the "buddy picture" too far -- was Dean and Jerry in a bathtub together.
There are some good things about this film. Shirley MacLaine shines as the female lead and love interest for Jerry. There's a pretty good comedy sequence with Jerry and Shirley to "Innamorata" (after Dean finishes his version). Incidentally, this was Shirley's second film (after Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry"). Dorothy Malone is fine as Dean's love interest. Jerry has a funny chiropractor sequence. The production, like several of the later Martin & Lewis films was fairly big budget -- VistaVision, Technicolor, Eastmancolor, and stereo.
Dean's and Jerry's acting here is pretty typical for their pictures, but unlike some scenes in some of their comedies, there's little here that's endearing. Dorothy Malone was fine as Dean's love interest, Shirley MacLaine fine as Jerry's. Eddie Mayehoff, who earlier was quite good in several Martin & Lewis films was, from my perspective, becoming a sort of Eddie Mayehoff character...to exaggerated.
Time was running out for Martin & Lewis, and in my view, this film showed it.
Unfortunately, Eva Gabor proves the Gabor sisters couldn't act...but at least it's Eva and not Zsa Zsa! One comedy sequence I thought was too much -- taking the "buddy picture" too far -- was Dean and Jerry in a bathtub together.
There are some good things about this film. Shirley MacLaine shines as the female lead and love interest for Jerry. There's a pretty good comedy sequence with Jerry and Shirley to "Innamorata" (after Dean finishes his version). Incidentally, this was Shirley's second film (after Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry"). Dorothy Malone is fine as Dean's love interest. Jerry has a funny chiropractor sequence. The production, like several of the later Martin & Lewis films was fairly big budget -- VistaVision, Technicolor, Eastmancolor, and stereo.
Dean's and Jerry's acting here is pretty typical for their pictures, but unlike some scenes in some of their comedies, there's little here that's endearing. Dorothy Malone was fine as Dean's love interest, Shirley MacLaine fine as Jerry's. Eddie Mayehoff, who earlier was quite good in several Martin & Lewis films was, from my perspective, becoming a sort of Eddie Mayehoff character...to exaggerated.
Time was running out for Martin & Lewis, and in my view, this film showed it.
Typical nonsense
ronfernandezsf21 May 2020
A couple of good scenes do not make a good movie. Nice color and sets and an attractive Dorothy Malone. Shirley is a delight. Thats about it. Silly plot and situations as with all Martin and Lewis flicks. Very gay references by the two men especially when Dean says "I want a divorce" and when Deans in the bathtub while Jerry watches and then falls in with him. Also questionable is the relationship with the two gals. How did all this get past the censors. Today of course, quite innocent, but in the 50's...well....
Anyway, a couple of good laughs with an implausable ending that comes out of nowhere. Be warned!!!
Dino Puts Jerry On Canvas
bkoganbing11 February 2009
One of the best of the Martin&Lewis films is Artists And Models where Dean and Jerry play a pair of roommates. Dino is a struggling artist and Jerry just struggles.
Jerry also dreams out loud and his wild imaginings in the arms of Morbeus give Dean an idea for comic strip characters which he draws. It makes them both quite successful. When they accidentally print the part of a secret rocket formula that is destined to launch a proposed space station into orbit, he arouses both the interest of our Secret Service and the Russians. They send a beautiful spy in the person of Eva Gabor and her scenes trying to vamp Jerry are a scream.
Two things struck me about Artists And Models. One was that Dino seemed less abusive of Jerry in the relationship. It was something different coming out of the pair. Secondly Paramount hired songwriters Harry Warren and Jack Brooks to write a really outstanding score for Dean to sing, one of the best in a Martin&Lewis film. In fact I'm surprised that such songs like Innamorata, When You Pretend, You Look So Familiar, and The Lucky Song, that not one of them merited an Oscar nomination. All are very big favorites with Dean Martin's legion of fans. The team of Warren and Brooks was responsible for Dino's biggest hit from a motion picture, That's Amore.
Jerry occasionally gets a girl as well in some of their films and in this one he got Shirley MacLaine who was doing just her second film, having made her debut in Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble With Harry also done at Paramount. She also gets to vamp Jerry with a hysterical obbligato of Innamorata. She proves his equal in the mugging department, no mean feat.
In fact the film is populated with beautiful women besides MacLaine and Gabor, Anita Ekberg is also a model and Dorothy Malone is an artist who rooms with MacLaine and has a relationship roughly parallel. Malone looks a whole lot like Jeanne Martin in my humble opinion and in the Nick Tosches biography of Dean Martin, she speaks warmly about working with him in a couple of films, saying he was one of the easiest going people to work with and in fact on another film, helped her over a rough patch because Malone had just lost a brother.
Artists And Models shows Dean and Jerry at their best and musically it might just be the best of the scores Dean Martin ever got in any of his films.
Jerry also dreams out loud and his wild imaginings in the arms of Morbeus give Dean an idea for comic strip characters which he draws. It makes them both quite successful. When they accidentally print the part of a secret rocket formula that is destined to launch a proposed space station into orbit, he arouses both the interest of our Secret Service and the Russians. They send a beautiful spy in the person of Eva Gabor and her scenes trying to vamp Jerry are a scream.
Two things struck me about Artists And Models. One was that Dino seemed less abusive of Jerry in the relationship. It was something different coming out of the pair. Secondly Paramount hired songwriters Harry Warren and Jack Brooks to write a really outstanding score for Dean to sing, one of the best in a Martin&Lewis film. In fact I'm surprised that such songs like Innamorata, When You Pretend, You Look So Familiar, and The Lucky Song, that not one of them merited an Oscar nomination. All are very big favorites with Dean Martin's legion of fans. The team of Warren and Brooks was responsible for Dino's biggest hit from a motion picture, That's Amore.
Jerry occasionally gets a girl as well in some of their films and in this one he got Shirley MacLaine who was doing just her second film, having made her debut in Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble With Harry also done at Paramount. She also gets to vamp Jerry with a hysterical obbligato of Innamorata. She proves his equal in the mugging department, no mean feat.
In fact the film is populated with beautiful women besides MacLaine and Gabor, Anita Ekberg is also a model and Dorothy Malone is an artist who rooms with MacLaine and has a relationship roughly parallel. Malone looks a whole lot like Jeanne Martin in my humble opinion and in the Nick Tosches biography of Dean Martin, she speaks warmly about working with him in a couple of films, saying he was one of the easiest going people to work with and in fact on another film, helped her over a rough patch because Malone had just lost a brother.
Artists And Models shows Dean and Jerry at their best and musically it might just be the best of the scores Dean Martin ever got in any of his films.
More cuts? Or put back some of the already cut footage?
JohnHowardReid11 September 2016
Warning: Spoilers
The color photography is very attractive and the movie has a great support cast, but the picture has been running half an hour before Shirley MacLaine and Dorothy Malone come on. Malone has the lion's share of the action, although MacLaine has a dance number plus half of one of Dean Martin's more attractive songs. Martin also has a children's dance. Eddie Mayehoff storms around hammily but unfunnily. About three quarters of the way through, a plot suddenly starts to develop and Eva Gabor enters. Anita Ekberg has only one very, very small insignificant scene. Kath Freeman delivers some of the films very limited genuine humor. Still in its very limited, juvenile way, the movie is a passable time-waster, although MacLaine and Ekberg fans are going to be disappointed. MacLaine's fans will be especially outraged as her dance number at the artists' ball has been left on the cutting-room floor. Director Tashlin actually had a background in comic art and I would have thought he would have brightened up the very heavy-handed satire on EC comics. As it is, the film falls very neatly into two halves. It would seem the writers ran out of ideas and desperately introduced the spy plot. Production values, especially the sets and costumes are lavish. Dean Martin was not happy that Jerry Lewis collared the lion's share of the climax. But despite all the cuts, including a scene in the dressing room corridor with a lot of distorted reflections in mirrors (we already had a scene with funny faces reflected in the water cooler), the movie still needs trimming.
My Dad was right
stormy72425 March 2023
When I was 10 in 1955, my family saw this at a theater. My Dad complained during the entire drive home about how stupid it was.
My 10-year-old self thought it was pretty funny. I still remember Jerry Lewis not-so-daintily carving up 2 or 3 beans (the only things he had for dinner) and his running up and down stairs in the apartment building freaking out about the Bat Lady and the fat lady.
Many years later, I watched it on TV as an adult, sure that I would still be laughing and that my father's Puritan sensibilities probably objected to Shirley MacLaine's skimpy Bat Lady outfit rather than the slapstick comedy.
My Dad was right.
My 10-year-old self thought it was pretty funny. I still remember Jerry Lewis not-so-daintily carving up 2 or 3 beans (the only things he had for dinner) and his running up and down stairs in the apartment building freaking out about the Bat Lady and the fat lady.
Many years later, I watched it on TV as an adult, sure that I would still be laughing and that my father's Puritan sensibilities probably objected to Shirley MacLaine's skimpy Bat Lady outfit rather than the slapstick comedy.
My Dad was right.
Did Anne Bancroft have a cameo role?
btdroflet389 June 2005
A crazy film for devotees of the super-hero comic book. Shirley MacLaine was both wacky and alluring as Bessie, who is the inspiration of the Bat-Lady, a character of the comic book which Dorothy Malone draws(?) Jerry is his usual self, while Dean Martin turns up a one-note performance as the typecast Lothario who tries to romance Dorothy who at first would have nothing to do with him. Eva Gabor(before Green Acres), cast as the seductress who tries to worm spy secrets out of Jerry is excellent.
I remember seeing the movie years ago and there was a scene where Jerry paints faces and puts little dresses on the knees of a young blonde actress in one scene. The actress bared a slight resemblance to Anne Bancroft. Is this correct?
Brian T
I remember seeing the movie years ago and there was a scene where Jerry paints faces and puts little dresses on the knees of a young blonde actress in one scene. The actress bared a slight resemblance to Anne Bancroft. Is this correct?
Brian T
Artists and Models
jboothmillard8 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I found this film listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I did not realise the partnership of the famous crooner and the popular comedian had been a thing for years, this was their fourteenth feature together. Basically Rick Todd (Dean Martin) is a struggling painter and smooth-talking ladies' man, his goofy young roommate Eugene Fullstack (Jerry Lewis) is an aspiring children's author with a passion for comic books, especially those featuring the mysterious and sexy "Bat Lady". Every night, Eugene has nightmares, inspired by the many comics he reads, he screams and describes these visions aloud in his sleep, they are about the bizarre bird-like superhero "Vincent the Vulture", who has many fantastical elements, also known as "Vultureman", or simply "The Vulture", the golden helmeted hero soaring through space, according to Eugene's nocturnal babblings. An apartment building neighbour, Abigail "Abby" Parker (Dorothy Malone), is a professional artist working for New York comic book company Murdock Publishing, she created the "Bat Lady", she is becoming frustrated with the demands of Murdock for increasingly lurid and bloodthirsty stories. Abigail's energetic horoscope-obsessed roommate Bessie Sparrowbush (Shirley MacLaine) works as the secretary for the publisher Mr. Murdock (Eddie Mayehoff) and as a model for the flying bat-masked superheroine, she develops a crush on Eugene, who is unaware she is his beloved "Bat Lady" in the flesh. Abigail quits her job to become an anti-comics activist, she drags Eugene into her crusade as an example of how trashy comic books can warp the mind. At the same time, Rick gets a job with the company after using the ramblings of Eugene's dreams to pitch the idea of the adventures of "Vincent the Vulture", Rick becomes successful with this, but he has fallen for Abigail, he keeps this secret from her, and from Eugene. Unbeknownst to all, Eugene's dreams also contain the formula "X34 minus 5R1 plus 6-X36", a real top-secret rocket, Rick publishes this in one of the stories, soon enough spies are all around them, they plan to capture Rick and Eugene at the annual "Artists and Models Ball" to preserve national security. Also starring Eva Gabor as Sonia / Mrs. Curtis and La Dolce Vita's Anita Ekberg as Anita. Martin is obviously a great singer, he does well being the charmer as well, Lewis is bonkers, his antics borders on being annoying at times, but overall he is humorous, Martin and Lewis are indeed a great odd couple and comedy duo, Malone and MacClaine are good as well, it is a madcap story of comic books, animation art and modelling, most of the humour comes from the physical wackiness, but there are also some catchy songs and a great vivid colour, it is an enjoyable musical comedy. Very good!
No amour for Amorata.
mark.waltz15 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I was nearly going to call this Martin and Jerry Lewis's best film ever, that was until Shirley MacLaine began singing that song and laid a golden egg. It's a Dean Martin song that she sabotages, and completely overdoes it in the first of her films that was released even though "The Trouble with Harry" was made first. Fortunately, it's only 3 minutes of torture, and the remainder of the film is actually quite good, surprising because most of their films and Lewis's later films do not appeal to me in the least.
Martin and Lewis play struggling artists who finally find success when Lewis's dreams become the subject for Martin's comic book success that pays off all of their back rent (to landlady Kathleen Freeman), and it's when Lewis runs into MacLaine, posing as a bat woman, that he begins having a variety of fantasies that he verbally expresses while sleeping. A sketch involves Louis running from the bat lady to a heavy set neighbor so his tongue twisting rant about running from the bat lady to the fat lady is actually very funny.
Although he would have her as his love interest in several future films, Martin and MacLaine are not involved here. Instead, he gets Dorothy Malone, a serious minded artist who is concerned about the impact of comic books on the young mind. George "Foghorn" Winslow gets to dramatitize this in a very funny scene where his irate mother leaves him at the publishers office to create all sorts of chaos. Usually seems like this aggravate me because they are badly written and unfunny, but the gags that would normally be dreadful to me really did have me laughing out loud. A subplot of Lewis having military secrets stuck in his brain for some reason makes no sense, but isn't really distracting.
While MacLaine's big number left me cold, other musical numbers succeed such as Martin's Greenwich Village Street number with a group of children and the very artistic title song at the end. The songs aren't Award winners by any means, but they are staged with style and the Vista Vision photography and color is beautiful. Freeman as usual steals perfume moments on screen, and then there's a presence by one of the Gabor sisters (Eva) as the femme fatale. When she says "I'm looking for a man", there are more green acres on the streets of Manhattan than there are in Hooterville. Quite a lot of fun in spite of that one cringeworthy moment.
Martin and Lewis play struggling artists who finally find success when Lewis's dreams become the subject for Martin's comic book success that pays off all of their back rent (to landlady Kathleen Freeman), and it's when Lewis runs into MacLaine, posing as a bat woman, that he begins having a variety of fantasies that he verbally expresses while sleeping. A sketch involves Louis running from the bat lady to a heavy set neighbor so his tongue twisting rant about running from the bat lady to the fat lady is actually very funny.
Although he would have her as his love interest in several future films, Martin and MacLaine are not involved here. Instead, he gets Dorothy Malone, a serious minded artist who is concerned about the impact of comic books on the young mind. George "Foghorn" Winslow gets to dramatitize this in a very funny scene where his irate mother leaves him at the publishers office to create all sorts of chaos. Usually seems like this aggravate me because they are badly written and unfunny, but the gags that would normally be dreadful to me really did have me laughing out loud. A subplot of Lewis having military secrets stuck in his brain for some reason makes no sense, but isn't really distracting.
While MacLaine's big number left me cold, other musical numbers succeed such as Martin's Greenwich Village Street number with a group of children and the very artistic title song at the end. The songs aren't Award winners by any means, but they are staged with style and the Vista Vision photography and color is beautiful. Freeman as usual steals perfume moments on screen, and then there's a presence by one of the Gabor sisters (Eva) as the femme fatale. When she says "I'm looking for a man", there are more green acres on the streets of Manhattan than there are in Hooterville. Quite a lot of fun in spite of that one cringeworthy moment.
Have fun with Dino and Jerry
Petey-1021 July 2005
Dean Martin plays an artist named Rick Todd and Jerry Lewis is his buddy Eugene Fullstack.Eugene happens to be obsessed with comic books and has very bad dreams because of those.Rick gets an idea to make a comic book from Eugene's dreams.In the same building there lives Abigail Parker (Dorothy Malone), who's the author of Eugene's favorite comic book The Bat Lady and the model Bessie Sparrowbrush (Shirley MacLaine).Rick likes Abby and Bessie likes Eugene.Eddie Mayehoff is a little weird publisher Mr Murdock.Frank Tashlin's Artists and Models (1955) is an awfully funny picture from Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.These two were magnificent together.Also other actors support the main clowns very well.Maclaine and Malone are very pretty and great actresses.Eddie Mayehoff is just hilarious as the publisher.There are also people like Eva Gabor (Zsa Zsa's sister), Anita Ekberg, Jack Elam and Kathleen Freeman.The movie is filled with great actors and funny scenes.There's one where Jerry has to keep running downstairs all the time for the telephone and Jerry on TV with many others.There are also some wonderful musical numbers, like where Shirley sings Innamorata very loud making Jerry freaked and Dean singing with the little girl.There are many scenes to remember.This movie is fifty years old (where did the time go), but it hasn't aged a bit as Jerry Lewis movies never will.Jerry never will.
Outrageous, funny, and imaginative
Marie-623 April 2001
I've never seen a Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis movie. This was my first and I hope it is not my last! With a wacky story line (Crazy-for-comic boy Eugene dreams up comic book stories with Vincent Vulture and Freddie Fieldmouse and his friend writes them down) and a ton of laughs ("Not only will I watch your switchboard but I'll buzz your lights and tangle your wires. Come 'ere baby." "Not while your friend's watching." "Oh, he left." "Wow! Then what are we waiting for? My saggitarius was right. Come on, boy. Don't fight.") And the cutest actors (Shirley MacLaine, Dorothy Malone). How can you not love the songs? And then there's the entire Eva Gabor thing going on. This movie is hilarious, too bad it's not popular NOW. I highly recommend it. I love it.
Maybe the best film of the Martin-Lewis comedy team
SimonJack17 November 2015
This may be the best of the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedy movie pairings. "Artists and Models" is fairly sophisticated with witty dialog along with the antics. And the antics in this one are very good, with some highly imaginative skits. On top of that, this film is a satire. It spoofs or pokes fun at many interests. Among these are superstitions that were very popular in the mid-20th century (astrology and numerology). It ravages comic books and hits quite hard on television. It spoofs the toy industry, government security and military top-secret plans. It has fun with spying during the Cold War - spoofing the CIA and Soviet KGB.
The cast includes some short appearances by top Hollywood glamour girls of the day; and the entire cast perform well. Dean is Rick Todd, Jerry is Eugene Fullstack, Shirley MacLaine is Bessie Sparrowbrush, and Dorothy Malone plays the other female lead as Abby Parker. Eddie Mayehoff is hilarious as Mr. Murdock and Kathleen Freeman as Mrs. Muldoon appears to have two roles. She is the apartment owner or manager and she reprises one of her Swedish massage roles for great laughter.
Several comedy skits that often have hijinks or antics are innovative and hilarious. The first is a one-bean dinner, with Jerry doing the carving that leads viewers to some healthy howling. There is a stairway scene that's a riot with Jerry and a young Shirley MacLaine in just her second movie. And, a chiropractic double skit is a riot. Jerry is maneuvered and mangled on a massage table with some very funny twists (literal), and then coerces Dean and three women onto the table for a very funny menagerie, which he then escapes.
One very funny scene doesn't involve either lead. Murdock is chewing out Abby for not delivering the right stuff for his comic books. "You're supposed to be an artist and a writer of children's stories," he says. "..62 pages of drawings, and no blood. Not even an itsy bitsy nosebleed. Suffering catfish, you call this a Murdock book for kiddies? With no stranglings? With no decapitations? Where are they? Look at the competition we're getting from television. Night before, I counted 13 murders - four stranglings, nine suffocations and six poisonings (sic) - on two channels in one hour. And another thing. Just you think of this, girl. When they're able to show that red blood gushing out of open wounds in spectacular color - and they'll get it free, right into the living rooms there sponsored by those friendly used car dealers."
In one scene, two men are in a far building spying on Murdock in his office. We can't see the face of one who's looking through binoculars. The other guy asks what they are doing down there. In a voice that sounds very much like that of Jimmy Stewart, the other guys says, "I can't see too well through this 'Rear Window.'" What a hoot. This film came out when Dwight Eisenhower was president. Ike like to golf and often was in the news around his golf outings. One of the CIA agents thanks Rick for helping them uproot the KGB spies. "Who knows, the President might invite you to the White House," he says. "I doubt that," Rick replies. "Why?" the agent asks. ""I shoot in the low 70s," Rick answered.
"Artists and Models" has four or five songs. There weren't any memorable tunes, and most just weren't that good. The film could easily have done without the musical numbers. Just a little rewrite would be needed.
Martin and Lewis made two films together in supporting roles before they became top billing and films were scripted for and around them. The first starring role for the duo was "At War with the Army" in 1950. They made 16 films together from 1949 to 1956, and all were box office successes.
Here are some favorite lines from this film.
Abigail 'Abby' Parke, "Listen, the man that a woman doesn't want doesn't exist."
Rick Todd, "I like the way your bone structure's structured."
Rick Todd, "Real nice, Murdock. Very nice. Couple more issues and you and I will make 'em forget Hitler." Mr. Murdock, "Now wait a minute. Don't get squeamish, Todd."
Bessie Sparrowbrush, "You know, numerology's a science. I take the numbers - the day, the month and the year that I was born. I add the day, the month and the year that Eugene was born, and that answer I divide with my street address. Then I add that to my social security number, and with that answer I divide with Eugene's social security number. Then I multiply that by the number of dancing lessons I take. And, the number of calories I eat in one day I subtract from that, and I multiply the whole thing by the time and that's the end of it." Abigail 'Abby' Parker, "How's it work out?" Bessie, "Zero -- Eugene again."
The cast includes some short appearances by top Hollywood glamour girls of the day; and the entire cast perform well. Dean is Rick Todd, Jerry is Eugene Fullstack, Shirley MacLaine is Bessie Sparrowbrush, and Dorothy Malone plays the other female lead as Abby Parker. Eddie Mayehoff is hilarious as Mr. Murdock and Kathleen Freeman as Mrs. Muldoon appears to have two roles. She is the apartment owner or manager and she reprises one of her Swedish massage roles for great laughter.
Several comedy skits that often have hijinks or antics are innovative and hilarious. The first is a one-bean dinner, with Jerry doing the carving that leads viewers to some healthy howling. There is a stairway scene that's a riot with Jerry and a young Shirley MacLaine in just her second movie. And, a chiropractic double skit is a riot. Jerry is maneuvered and mangled on a massage table with some very funny twists (literal), and then coerces Dean and three women onto the table for a very funny menagerie, which he then escapes.
One very funny scene doesn't involve either lead. Murdock is chewing out Abby for not delivering the right stuff for his comic books. "You're supposed to be an artist and a writer of children's stories," he says. "..62 pages of drawings, and no blood. Not even an itsy bitsy nosebleed. Suffering catfish, you call this a Murdock book for kiddies? With no stranglings? With no decapitations? Where are they? Look at the competition we're getting from television. Night before, I counted 13 murders - four stranglings, nine suffocations and six poisonings (sic) - on two channels in one hour. And another thing. Just you think of this, girl. When they're able to show that red blood gushing out of open wounds in spectacular color - and they'll get it free, right into the living rooms there sponsored by those friendly used car dealers."
In one scene, two men are in a far building spying on Murdock in his office. We can't see the face of one who's looking through binoculars. The other guy asks what they are doing down there. In a voice that sounds very much like that of Jimmy Stewart, the other guys says, "I can't see too well through this 'Rear Window.'" What a hoot. This film came out when Dwight Eisenhower was president. Ike like to golf and often was in the news around his golf outings. One of the CIA agents thanks Rick for helping them uproot the KGB spies. "Who knows, the President might invite you to the White House," he says. "I doubt that," Rick replies. "Why?" the agent asks. ""I shoot in the low 70s," Rick answered.
"Artists and Models" has four or five songs. There weren't any memorable tunes, and most just weren't that good. The film could easily have done without the musical numbers. Just a little rewrite would be needed.
Martin and Lewis made two films together in supporting roles before they became top billing and films were scripted for and around them. The first starring role for the duo was "At War with the Army" in 1950. They made 16 films together from 1949 to 1956, and all were box office successes.
Here are some favorite lines from this film.
Abigail 'Abby' Parke, "Listen, the man that a woman doesn't want doesn't exist."
Rick Todd, "I like the way your bone structure's structured."
Rick Todd, "Real nice, Murdock. Very nice. Couple more issues and you and I will make 'em forget Hitler." Mr. Murdock, "Now wait a minute. Don't get squeamish, Todd."
Bessie Sparrowbrush, "You know, numerology's a science. I take the numbers - the day, the month and the year that I was born. I add the day, the month and the year that Eugene was born, and that answer I divide with my street address. Then I add that to my social security number, and with that answer I divide with Eugene's social security number. Then I multiply that by the number of dancing lessons I take. And, the number of calories I eat in one day I subtract from that, and I multiply the whole thing by the time and that's the end of it." Abigail 'Abby' Parker, "How's it work out?" Bessie, "Zero -- Eugene again."
Terrific Jerry Lewis and Shirley MacLaine Slackstick Comedy
jayraskin129 December 2015
This movie has three things going for it, cinematography, Lewis and MacLaine, Daniel L. Fapp was a great cinematographer who did "West Side Story" and "the Great Escape" among other films. The gorgeous and vibrant colors jump off the screen and embrace you here. Thankfully the Technicolor is preserved in all its glory. The second great thing about this movie is Jerry Lewis's slapstick. If you enjoy this genre of comedy, there are numerous scenes where Lewis shows off his superb skills. He and Danny Kaye were the two masters of it in fifties. My favorite scene where Lewis entwines a number of bodies during a back-rub sequence. The third plus is Shirley MacLaine. She only has five or six scenes but she is terrific and you see the origin of the Chaplinesque or more properly Normandesque (after Mabel Normand) character that she would play so magnificently in "The Apartment," "Irma La Douce," and "Sweet Charity." Shirley had only played in "The Trouble With Harry," a rare Hitchcock comedy misfire before this film. It is this film that really shows her best qualities and talents.
The script is generally quite funny and witty, but takes an odd turn in the third act when it adds an out of blue spy plot.
The film is also quite sexy. Its sexy talk and many sequences of beautifully dressed and nearly undressed women really pushed the boundaries of sexuality in movies in 1955.
One does feel a bit sorry for Dean Martin, as he plays a straight man who really has only average scenes that do not show his talents very well. He does have a couple of good song numbers.
The film's satire on the comic book scandals of the 1950's will also be appreciated by comic book fans. Lewis' character is in love with a comic book heroine called "The Bat Lady." reflecting the popularity of the Batman character even in this time period.
Fans of cinematography, slapstick, Jerry Lewis and Shirley MacLaine should definitely catch this one. Others might have a hard time with it.
The script is generally quite funny and witty, but takes an odd turn in the third act when it adds an out of blue spy plot.
The film is also quite sexy. Its sexy talk and many sequences of beautifully dressed and nearly undressed women really pushed the boundaries of sexuality in movies in 1955.
One does feel a bit sorry for Dean Martin, as he plays a straight man who really has only average scenes that do not show his talents very well. He does have a couple of good song numbers.
The film's satire on the comic book scandals of the 1950's will also be appreciated by comic book fans. Lewis' character is in love with a comic book heroine called "The Bat Lady." reflecting the popularity of the Batman character even in this time period.
Fans of cinematography, slapstick, Jerry Lewis and Shirley MacLaine should definitely catch this one. Others might have a hard time with it.
Wow!
Marie-624 April 2001
I bought this movie at amazon.com because I'm a musical fan as well as a Shirley MacLaine fan. I'm so glad that I did! Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin are wonderful comiediennes, and Dean's voice could probably melt any woman's heart, serenading them with "Armaratta" and "You Look So Familiar." Jerry Lewis is funny as the dumb-bat best friend, Eugene, who is crushed upon by love-struck numberology/astrology loving Bessie (MacLaine). The songs are delightful and the movie is hilarious. I gave this a 9. Eva Gabor is also in the act as well as Dorothy M. and they're terrific! I highly recommend this movie to EVERYONE!
Very funny, if you can stand Jerry Lewis
zetes14 September 2002
I had never seen a Jerry Lewis vehicle before this one (not counting Scorsese's King of Comedy), and I was annoyed as hell for the first fifteen minutes. I even considered walking out, that's how irate I was getting at Lewis' mugging. But then there was a scene in which he was hilarious, so I hung onto it a bit. And it got funnier and funnier. Jerry Lewis isn't getting a clean bill of health from me; he still annoyed me once in a while. But in at least an equal amount of scenes, and probably a bit more, he was very funny. He and Dean Martin play "roommates" who met each other way back when they were Boy Scouts, sleep in separate twin beds in the same room, take baths with the door open, and at one point talk about getting a divorce. At one point the semi-retarded Lewis (and he admits as much himself) says to Martin: "I can't keep my dickie down, Ricky." Um, he's putting on a tuxedo I think. Similarly, Dorothy Malone lives in the apartment directly above them, unmarried with thick, black glasses and earning a good living on her own. She spends her time dressing the barely adult Shirley MacLaine, who has a cute little butch cut, up as the Bat Lady. The homosexual content seems to me almost too obvious to be meant. It's usually much subtler in Hollywood movies of the era. Then again, it's impossible to miss it, even you're a 1950s housewife. Eventually, the two gay couples meet and change partners, Martin getting Malone and Lewis MacLaine. MacLaine, in her second (or maybe third) role, is probably the film's standout, but Eddie Mayehoff, playing a comic book publisher who wants ever more violent comic books to sell, lands the highest percentage of the laughs. Eva Gabor has a decent part as a Soviet spy (a Cold War plotline appears out of thin air in the latter half of the film), and Anita Ekberg, later to co-star in Fellini's La Dolce Vita, also has a tiny role as a model. The non-Lewis related comedy is frivolous but excellent. The film also contains several great musical numbers. Dean Martin at one point starts dancing with a little girl on the street in a scene stolen from An American in Paris. The girl, though, is an excellent back-up singer and the song itself - I believe it's called "The Lucky Song" - is quite entertaining. 8/10.
Happiness is just a state of mind my friend ... when you pretend.
hitchcockthelegend20 October 2008
Rick Todd and Eugene Fullstack share an apartment, Rick is a struggling artist and Eugene is a comic book fan with very few marbles! Both men are struggling to earn money, but when Eugene starts telling the comic book adventures of Vincent the Vulture in his sleep, Rick spies an opportunity to make some money. Trouble is is that the gorgeous Bessie Sparrowbrush and Abigail Parker are about to enter the boys lives, and with the secret services from different countries interested in Eugene's dreams as well, love and government interests are going to meet head on, with the result being chaos!
Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis were a double act that had as many ups as they did downs, but something about their partnership tapped into the fluff entertainment market that entertained millions with a blend of crooning and idiotic pratfalling. Here with Artists And Models they manage to create an ode to joy that positively quakes with fun from the very first tremor of the opening sequence. If we were to dissect the film and analyse it piece by piece it would probably come up short of being a technical wonder and a genius smart piece of film making, but really why would anyone want to do that? Surely we enter a film like this in the hope of being taken away from the world? And few films in this genre can better lay claim to being odes to joy, love, friendship and care free abandon, all in one foul swoop. To me personally there is only Singing In The Rain that can portray better the beauty of living your life, Artists And Models has everything one needs to cure the blues.
Sparkling as it does in Vistavision, Artists and Models delights the eyes as much as it lifts the heart, technically it actually does score high and it's boosted by a cast on optimum form. Jerry Lewis is hated as much as he is adored, I guess his bumbling buffoonery annoys if taken in regular doses, but when he was on form he is nothing short of a comic genius. Witness here in this film the quintessential Jerry Lewis turn, from a quite brilliant telephone to bath sequence via mime, to an interplay musical sequence with the fabulous Shirley MacLaine, that could surely make the dead raise a smile.
Then there is Dino Paul Crocetti, those Italian looks so beloved by the ladies, sickeningly going hand in hand with a voice apparently sent from high above. Enjoy here a special sequence as Dean sings and dances with the children (sadly uncredited), every inch of the frame is filled with what makes the world go around. Shirley Maclaine, Dorothy Malone and the ever enjoyable Eddie Mayehoff all combine to make this one of the pinnacles of the Dean & Jerry partnership, it may not be your preferred genre, but everyone should let such an ode to joy into their lives just once, surely? 9/10
Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis were a double act that had as many ups as they did downs, but something about their partnership tapped into the fluff entertainment market that entertained millions with a blend of crooning and idiotic pratfalling. Here with Artists And Models they manage to create an ode to joy that positively quakes with fun from the very first tremor of the opening sequence. If we were to dissect the film and analyse it piece by piece it would probably come up short of being a technical wonder and a genius smart piece of film making, but really why would anyone want to do that? Surely we enter a film like this in the hope of being taken away from the world? And few films in this genre can better lay claim to being odes to joy, love, friendship and care free abandon, all in one foul swoop. To me personally there is only Singing In The Rain that can portray better the beauty of living your life, Artists And Models has everything one needs to cure the blues.
Sparkling as it does in Vistavision, Artists and Models delights the eyes as much as it lifts the heart, technically it actually does score high and it's boosted by a cast on optimum form. Jerry Lewis is hated as much as he is adored, I guess his bumbling buffoonery annoys if taken in regular doses, but when he was on form he is nothing short of a comic genius. Witness here in this film the quintessential Jerry Lewis turn, from a quite brilliant telephone to bath sequence via mime, to an interplay musical sequence with the fabulous Shirley MacLaine, that could surely make the dead raise a smile.
Then there is Dino Paul Crocetti, those Italian looks so beloved by the ladies, sickeningly going hand in hand with a voice apparently sent from high above. Enjoy here a special sequence as Dean sings and dances with the children (sadly uncredited), every inch of the frame is filled with what makes the world go around. Shirley Maclaine, Dorothy Malone and the ever enjoyable Eddie Mayehoff all combine to make this one of the pinnacles of the Dean & Jerry partnership, it may not be your preferred genre, but everyone should let such an ode to joy into their lives just once, surely? 9/10
Artists and Models is one of the most entertaining of the Martin & Lewis movies due to the inventiveness of director Frank Tashlin
tavm28 August 2011
Once again, before I review this Martin & Lewis movie proper, I have to acknowledge various players that had appeared in their pictures before. Like Dorothy Malone, who was previously in Scared Stiff, playing Dean's leading lady here or Eddie Mayehoff, who before this was in That's My Boy and The Stooge. And how about Kathleen Freeman, whose first appearance with the boys was in 3 Ring Circus, in her small role as the landlady. Okay, with that out of the way, I also want to remark on the fact this was Frank Tashlin's first time directing the boys and as a former Warner Bros. animator, he brings plenty of inventive cartoon-like gags that adds to the fun of their movies. And Shirley MacLaine, in only her second film appearance, also adds to the sexy fun especially in her encounters with Jerry along with Ms. Malone, a model named Anita Ekberg, and Eva Gabor, sister of Zsa Zsa who had her own M & L experience in the aforementioned 3RC, as a foreign spy. And Ms. Freeman and especially Mayehoff bring their own comic gifts to the fore here. While things threaten to lose steam near the end, the production numbers themselves are even more elaborately entertaining than previously possible. So on that note, I highly recommend Artists and Models.
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