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[Bud Brewster]

Jerry Lewis manages a pretty good parody of the Jekyll/Hyde theme, portraying a shy, bucktoothed college professor who swallows an odd brew of chemicals and turns himself into a monstrously chauvinistic Hugh Hefner clone.

Stella Stevens is the incredibly sexy coed who finds herself attracted to certain aspects of both the Jekyll-and-Hyde version of Lewis' personas.



The cultural jabs are pretty dated now, and some of the shtick humor falls flat on its face, but it's refreshing to see Lewis play something other than a hyperactive nerd. There's a nice transformation scene (complete with thunder and lightning in the background), and a funny scene in which the shy professor has difficulty surpressing sudden outbursts of the playboy personality during his dignified science lectures.

Directed by Jerry Lewis from a screenplay he co-authored with Bill Richmond. Also starring Howard Morris and Kathleen Freeman.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I've been in love with Stella Stevens ever since she played Appassionata Von Climax in Lil Abner in 1959. Shes hotter than Texas chilly in this movie and every other film she's appeared in, not to mention TV appearances in shows like Banacek.







And that, I'm sorry to say, is about the only reason to watch this Jerry Lewis movie. But it's a fairly good reason in itself. Here's the trailer.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pye-Rate]

I agree this is a better effort by Jerry. Stella is a nice lady, flattening her on the ramp to the monorail is not the recommended method of meeting.
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The road to tomorrow runs through yesterday.

[Bud Brewster]

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Pye-rate, old friend, you kind of lost me here. (A) I said it was NOT a good Jerry Lewis movie, and (B) . . . . monorail?


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

[Pye-Rate]

Going to DJ school I ran over her while running up the ramp to the monorail. She was in Seattle filming a movie.
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The road to tomorrow runs through yesterday.

[Bud Brewster]

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Well, by gum, it all seems perfectly obvious in retrospect! What WAS I thinking?
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Rick]

I still think this is Jerry's best movie. Admittedly, it looked a lot better in 1963, still...

My Dad, then split from my mom, had no idea what on earth to do with three kids, but felt he should occasionally do something. And all he could think of was movies. Sometimes the choices were pretty obvious, as in THE NUTTY PROFESSOR or LADY AND THE TRAMP. Other times you had to wonder what he was thinking -- THE BLUE MAX, THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST.

My brother, sister, and I thought this might have been Dad's finest hour (and a half). We all loved it at the time. We even thought Buddy Love was pretty funny. Nowadays, however, that character just looks like Jerry himself at his slimiest and most deluded.

But I'll definitely agree on the subject of Stella Stevens. I was 13 years old and may have vaulted right past puberty while watching that movie. She was sexy, and adorable, and...quite a good actress too. Not that that part mattered much to me at the time.
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Man need not kneel before the angels,
Nor lie in death forever,
But for the weakness of his feeble will.

[Robert (Butch) Day]

A better film (although not less silly) in character growth was 1961's The Ladies Man. This was the first film to use video tape and TV monitors for instant replay so the director could see a rough cut of the film (and it was invented by Jerry), and also the first film to have an integrated set as one piece (not attempted again until 1979's ALIEN).

The integrated set was the Wellenmellen Mansion:








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Common Sense ISN'T Common

[Bud Brewster]

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This an incredible set, and these pictures are truly remakable! I've never seen this movie, and this set alone is reason to give it a look.

I'm downloading it now from VodLocker —

http://vodlocker.com/7olw6wwi7a3p

— using Clip Converter.

http://www.clipconverter.cc/
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Brent Gair]

This is a movie that generates a lot of mixed emotions for me. Personally, I find Jerry Lewis boorish and rather unfunny. Well actually a lot unfunny. And I think this movie is pretty unfunny as well. But it's something that I really enjoyed as a kid. The memory of the watching this at the old community club with my friends on a Sunday afternoon still remains strong so I look at it quite fondly but I have to say, as Bud said, other than Stella Stevens, there is really not a whole lot of reason to watch this movie. I have it on Blu ray and it looks fantastic. I'm glad I own it but I must confess that I have little reason to re-watch it.


Note: The above message was DICTATED ("voice typed") on a new chromebook as an experiment.

[scotpens]

[orzel-w]

I'm siding with Rick on this one. I won't go so far as to proclaim it Lewis' funniest movie, because I don't remember enough of his movies to make a valid comparison. But I did enjoy this one, and for that matter, still do, even more so than I did as a kid. In fact, I bought the DVD not too long ago.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Pow]

The set from The Ladies Man is quite impressive.

Reminds me of the British sf TV series Star Maidens.

They constructed a two-tiered set for the city complex that was fascinating to view. Not many TV shows build sets that are that large or have two levels to 'em.

Not back then, not now.

[Bogmeister]

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____________ The Nutty Professor (1963) trailer


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The original with Jerry Lewis — forget the later tepid remakes with Eddie Murphy and whatnot; this is the one to watch for edgy comedy.

It's a humorous version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Lewis stars as the goofy chemistry teacher at some college, where even the students look down on him and humiliate him, notably the jocks who actually physically abuse him when he annoys them (but it's all in good fun, heh-heh).

Lewis, who also directed, presents a study of extremes; there's no middle ground here. Witness the early scene of Lewis trying more conventional methods to better himself, at the local gym. To make himself look even smaller and less imposing, he utilizes a 7-foot tall actor (Richard Kiel in an early bit part) as the typical gymnast there, to offer a stark comparison.

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The twist with this version of the Jekyll-Hyde story is that the Hyde half of this particular character is the handsome, smooth-talking ladies man (still played by Lewis).

During the initial transformation scene, Lewis makes the audience think he'is turning into some kind of gorilla-like monster, but that turns out to be misleading. But it's still all a case of extremes: just as his Jekyll is unbelievably dopey and goofy, so to is his Hyde unbelievably cool.

For me, the key scene is after Lewis makes his first grand appearance as the smooth "Buddy Love" and then takes out a local rough guy. Lewis doesn't bother to soft pedal it or be subtle about it —his Buddy character is the ultimate smoothie, probably even better at it than James Bond and twice as obnoxious.

It's startling to view his transition from goofball to cool dude. Some viewers may even think it's two different actors.

Stella Stevens is, as usual, very sexy as one of the students whom Lewis targets.

BoG's Score: 7.5 out of 10

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BoG
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