One of the best Martin-Lewis films, helped considerably by the fact they’re working from a strong story for a change: it’s a remake of The Major and the Minor, which actually improves on the original by having someone chase after the impersonator – in this case a killer and jewel thief (always-reliable villain Raymond Burr) who is trying to retrieve a diamond from them. The script does suffer from logic problems and feels clunky shoehorning Dean Martin into the story in the opening sequence, but it’s also a completely fresh way of looking at the story but it’s a man pretending to be a child.
The man is, of course, Jerry Lewis, who often played child like creatures – so it’s fascinating to see his take on an eleven year old. He meets two people on the train, who share the characteristics and plot function of Ray Milland in the original – there’s school teacher Diana Lynn (who was in the Billy Wilder original, and is more likeable here than in My Friend Irma), who takes pity on him; plus another teacher, Dean Martin (teaching music and sports at an all girls school – there’s a movie in that concept alone), who has a fiancee (Nina Foch) who won't let him go off to active duty (which made sense during World War Two but wasn't the Korean War over when this was made?).
There’s some hilarious stuff here: Lewis cutting Martin’s chair (Martin rarely got the chance to do slapstick; Lewis getting amorous to Lynn, who is oblivious to his real age and intent; Lewis kissing a young girl at the school; the big production dance number from the girl students; Lewis throwing a tantrum and being a bratty kid; Burr's wife trying to seduce Lewis to get the diamond off him; Martin interrogating Lewis, suspecting the truth. It's some of their strongest material, frequently laugh-out-loud. The pedophile subtext of the original is greatly reduced, apart from one scene where Lewis tries to con a genuine kid out of his uniform by offering special treats. It does go on for a bit - almost two hours, which is too long.
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