LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Aiden Melton The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

writers_reign This was arguably the first time an Original Screenplay (Nothing Sacred, 1934) had been adapted into a Broadway Musical (Hazel Flagg, 1952) and then the Broadway Musical had been adapted into a film (Living It Up, 1954) It grew progressively weaker in each incarnation and seen today the movie has little to recommend it. Carole Lombard, the original Hazel, was light years better than Helen Gallagher who in turn eclipsed Jerry Lewis. There are four decent songs, a frenetic dance, Sig Ruman phones in his guttural dokktorr - he did it much better in Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie ten years later, Janet Leigh is the love interest, Fred Clark is Fred Clark and that's about it.

Claire Martin & Lewis at their best here in a hilarious film. The humour is atypical, as you'd expect from the lads; Jerry's clowning, face pulling and prat falls - catch the dance sequence where Homer (Jerry Lewis) does the Jitterbug, wow, as well as everything else he does Jerry is a fab dancer. Dean Martin plays the doctor and is full of the usual charm, wit and singing, the perfect foil to the humour of Jerry Lewis, Martin is so laid back here he's practically horizontal. There's a lovely part where Dean sings 'How do you speak to an Angel' in that wonderfully mellifluous voice and shortly afterwards Jerry does the same, singing for the most part in a serious manner but also adding in the 'kid and the squeaky voice persona' - I just loved it, want to watch it again and probably will. Get the CD Jerry Lewis 'Just Sings' awesome in itself.I've loved Jerry Lewis since I was a kid myself and I'm now pushing 50. It's so hard to make all the humour and hilarity on set look natural and Jerry (and Dean) do that, but it must take it's toll somewhere along the line, so Thanks Guys for a belter of a film; absolute magic from the masters at work, the incomparable Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis.

edwagreen Absolutely inane Martin and Lewis film where Dino is the doctor and Lewis, a railroad employee, supposedly comes into contact with a radioactive car. Dean, at first, feels that Lewis is terminal but soon reverses himself. That reversal doesn't come before N.Y. newspaper lady, Janet Leigh, arrives and gets the two to come to N.Y. for a sympathetic last trip with the hopes of increasing the newspapers' circulation. Fred Clark, as the editor, is his usual cynical self.What makes this film so ridiculous is that it could be obvious to anyone that there is nothing wrong with Homer Flagg (Lewis.) His antics are as silly as ever. The attempt at slap-stick comedy with the three doctors is nonsensical at best.Even some of the dance sequences are out of line here especially the one with Sheree North playing herself.

lzf0 In 1937, William Wellman directed a classic screenplay by Ben Hecht called "Nothing Sacred". This film has become a screwball comedy classic. Doctor Charles Winninger wrongly diagnoses patient Carole Lombard telling her that she has radiation poisoning. New York journalist Frederic March finds out about this and brings Lombard and Winninger to New York as a publicity stunt. March later discovers that Lombard is not going to die, but this does not matter to him; he has fallen in love with her.Now in the early 1950s, this movie was turned into a Broadway musical called "Hazel Flagg". The score was written by Jule Styne ("Anchors Away", "High Button Shoes", "Gentleman Prefer Blondes", "Gypsy", "Funny Girl") and Bob Hilliard (a Brill Building lyricist). The show was semi-successful, so Paramount decided to use it as a basis for a Martin and Lewis comedy.Dean is the skirt chasing, incompetent doctor. Jerry is the patient, becoming "Homer Flagg". March's role is given over to Janet Leigh and she falls for Dean. Some of the Broadway song are used: "How Do You Speak to an Angel", "Every Street's a Boulevard", "You're Gonna Dance with Me". Styne and Hilliard also wrote a batch of new songs for Dean and Jerry. In fact, Dean and Jerry handle all of the musical numbers.Now the movies never really captured the essence of Martin and Lewis. That is only available through kinescopes of their "Colgate Comedy Hour" and a bootleg film of a show at the Copa. The tension between the relaxed crooner-comic (Martin) being upstaged by his ambitious partner with a schizoid personality (sometimes silly juvenile, sometimes savvy show biz comic) is seen in these shows. It is truly fascinating and brings a depth to the partnership of Martin and Lewis that no other comedy team has ever had.In the movies, Dean was cast as a heel who is reformed by the end of the movie by his partner and his leading lady. Jerry is a magical sprite; he appears to be inept and clumsy, but he is way ahead of every other character in the film. While some of this is seen in "Living It Up", it is blatantly true of "Jumping Jacks". Both Dean and Jerry are full service entertainers. They are funny, the can sing, they can dance, and they can act. The shame of it all is that they broke up before they had really hit their stride. Just imagine films featuring Dean's drunk, sex maniac character which appeared very shortly after the breakup and Jerry's mature schizoid "I'm a famous movie star" clown.As for "Living It Up", it is a musical comedy which can be viewed again and again. The story is great, the songs are tuneful, and the gags are fast and funny.