Jerry Lewis

Just a heads up: Jerry’s solo films are now available on DVD. I recommend the following film be added to your Netflix cue ASAP (I insist you update your cue as well, because “The Incredibles” and “Sex and the City, Season 6, Vol. 2” will just have to wait for this one):

“The Ladies Man” (1961). This film is ahead of its time. Much of the film is shot on a set so large that it took up two Paramount sound stages. Built by Lewis at a cost of $500,000 (ridiculous at the time), the cutaway set of a four-story mansion allowed the camera to roam in and out, up and down, without cutting. Jean-Luc Godard had this film in mind when he shot “Tout Va Bien.” Wes Anderson must have had “The Ladies Man” in mind as well, because some of the scenes on the Belafonte are shot in the same way.

Overall, Lewis’s films are pretty dated–they seem to please only the most hardcore of fans. But this film is really stunning. The story is this: a college grad, swearing off women for the rest of his life, unwittingly takes a job as a houseboy in an all-girl boarding home. It has no plot, really. Basically, it’s a masterful stringing-together of choreography, cinematography, and gags. Not his funniest, but it’s probably the most visually impressive film he ever made.