Jerry Lewis stars as Jerome Littlefield, a male nurse in a private hospital who is always trying too hard – with the obvious comic results.
Lewis’s comic genius is very much a matter of taste. In France he’s virtually canonised; elsewhere, though, he has admirers and detractors in equal parts. This – his 31st film – is exactly the type of movie that tends to infuriate both parties.
It’s very, very funny, with a wonderful climactic chase and a particularly hysterical Lewis moment where Jerry has sympathy pains with the choleric Mrs Fuzzibee (Alice Pearce who played Lucy Shmeeler in On the Town).
However, the film also contains some of the most melancholy and cloying sentiment in the whole of Lewis’s oeuvre.
For once, director Frank Tashlin seems unable to control Jerry, which is not necessarily a bad thing, and the sight gags are tremendous.
Jerome Littlefield
Jerry Lewis Dr Jean Howard
Glenda Farrell Mr Tuffington
Everett Sloane Mrs Fuzzibee
Alice Pearce Julie Blair
Karen Sharpe Maggie Higgins
Kathleen Freeman Dr Davenport
Del Moore Susan Andrews
Susan Oliver Fat Jack
Jack E Leonard Mr Courtney
Richard Deacon Mrs Welles
Herbie Faye Mr McCaby
Frank Scannell
