untitled
THE DISORDERLY ORDERLY
Directed by: Frank Tashlin
Internet Movie Database Entry for full details
GRADE: B+/B (2.85/4)
1964.
It
is often said that the French love Jerry Lewis; I think that more
accurately, the Cahiers du Cinema crowd and their sympathizers were
great admirers of Frank Tashlin, who directed several of Lewis’
films including The Disorderly Orderly.
Tashlin’s filmmaking style is full of rapturous vitality, from
its colorful production design to its unusual camera movements and shot
composition. The film is packed with gags, some of which
admittedly fall flat, that are not only physical and verbal but also
play with the filmic medium itself. For example, in one scene
Lewis wanders into a room where a sign reads, "SILENCE!" Tashlin
misreads the sign as applying to him, so he erases the soundtrack from
the scene, and replaces the dialogue with subtitles to create an
absolutely silent moment on the screen.
The film is not really brilliant or especially great, but it possesses
a rare intelligence that places it a head above other films of its ilk
– it is as though Jean-Luc Godard directed an American comedy
within the confines of the studio system. Watch it at least for
its final scene, who frantic, chaotic brilliance nearly rivals Buster
Keaton’s best work.
-- Henry Stewart
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