The classic screwball comedy, "Nothing Sacred", gets an update thanks to the brief Broadway version, "Hazel Flagg", which in its film version gets a sex change. Jerry Lewis becomes Homer Flagg, the victim of radiation poisoning who ends up a big newspaper story for New York reporter Janet Leigh while small town doctor Dean Martin makes a play for Leigh, all the while knowing that Lewis isn't sick. All mayhem ensues in a musical comedy that shows Martin and Lewis at their best. Martin scores as the doctor whom Lewis asks, "What college did you graduate from?", to which Martin replies with his own question, "Who graduated?"
The few songs that remain from "Hazel Flagg" are sung nicely by Dean, and don't reflect the mediocre original cast recording. A jitterbug dance between Lewis and blonde bombshell Sheree North is the highlight, as is the production number, "Every Street's a Boulevard in Old New York", the best song in the Broadway production. Unlike Abbott and Costello (whom Martin and Lewis replaced as the top comedy team at the box office), you could tell that Martin's character always cared about Lewis's, while Bud always seemed out to take advantage of Lou's idiocy.
This is a rare example of a flop Broadway show making it to the big screen, although in its altered story is obviously quite different. I enjoyed the twists on the gender of the lead characters. Fred Clark and Edward Arnold have nice smaller roles, adding class to an already classy production. It's colorful and fast moving, and doesn't cheapen the memory of the classic original which so many remakes of 1930's screwball comedies seemed to overkill on.
The few songs that remain from "Hazel Flagg" are sung nicely by Dean, and don't reflect the mediocre original cast recording. A jitterbug dance between Lewis and blonde bombshell Sheree North is the highlight, as is the production number, "Every Street's a Boulevard in Old New York", the best song in the Broadway production. Unlike Abbott and Costello (whom Martin and Lewis replaced as the top comedy team at the box office), you could tell that Martin's character always cared about Lewis's, while Bud always seemed out to take advantage of Lou's idiocy.
This is a rare example of a flop Broadway show making it to the big screen, although in its altered story is obviously quite different. I enjoyed the twists on the gender of the lead characters. Fred Clark and Edward Arnold have nice smaller roles, adding class to an already classy production. It's colorful and fast moving, and doesn't cheapen the memory of the classic original which so many remakes of 1930's screwball comedies seemed to overkill on.