While veteran comedy director George Marshall did not direct those two Bob Hope movies, he did direct Hope in a number of films. He also directed a number of Martin and Lewis films, and at least with Martin, he had a Crosby like crooner to take away focus of Hope or Lewis's silliness. The silliness is still there in this military comedy, but unfortunately, that doesn't equal laughs.
What you end up with is an absurd unfunny farce that has Lewis playing your typical buffoon in the military, said to have been in basic training for nearly two years. David Wayne and Joe Mantell are two con-artist recruits who are stuck it seems everywhere they go with Wayne asked by Army psychiatrist Phyllis Kirk to help her prove that a loser like Lewis can be turned into a good soldier if they get special help. From the first half dealing with Lewis getting Wayne and Mantell into all sorts of trouble, we head to Morocco where Lewis involves them with a seductive French singer (Lillianne Montevecchi) trying to get out of the country and a group of evil Arabs which includes a completely wasted Peter Lorre.
Usually, the Martin and Lewis films have a great cast of character actors, but that is not present here. Gene Evans, Mary Treen and Sheppherd Strudwick don't get the good material other Jerry Lewis film ensembles got. A plot device of Wayne shooting while Lewis is being tested at the rifle range is ridiculously stupid as is Lewis's driving the boys back to the women's barracks instead of their own after Lewis's antics create a fight in a saloon. I don't expect Noel Coward or George Bernard Shaw in a Jerry Lewis comedy, but I do expect a few laughs. Nothing here. Moving on, folks.
What you end up with is an absurd unfunny farce that has Lewis playing your typical buffoon in the military, said to have been in basic training for nearly two years. David Wayne and Joe Mantell are two con-artist recruits who are stuck it seems everywhere they go with Wayne asked by Army psychiatrist Phyllis Kirk to help her prove that a loser like Lewis can be turned into a good soldier if they get special help. From the first half dealing with Lewis getting Wayne and Mantell into all sorts of trouble, we head to Morocco where Lewis involves them with a seductive French singer (Lillianne Montevecchi) trying to get out of the country and a group of evil Arabs which includes a completely wasted Peter Lorre.
Usually, the Martin and Lewis films have a great cast of character actors, but that is not present here. Gene Evans, Mary Treen and Sheppherd Strudwick don't get the good material other Jerry Lewis film ensembles got. A plot device of Wayne shooting while Lewis is being tested at the rifle range is ridiculously stupid as is Lewis's driving the boys back to the women's barracks instead of their own after Lewis's antics create a fight in a saloon. I don't expect Noel Coward or George Bernard Shaw in a Jerry Lewis comedy, but I do expect a few laughs. Nothing here. Moving on, folks.