Waste of time

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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.

Homer Flagg is an inept stationmaster in New Mexico, he mistakenly believes he has contracted radium poisoning. A reporter for the New York Chronicle, Wally Cooper, heads out west to write his story, but before she arrives, Homer finds out that he in fact isn't dying, but along with his devious doctor they decide to accept Cooper's offer of an all expenses paid trip to the Big Apple. Here in New York everyone takes Homer to their hearts, so the guys have to keep up the pretence that Homer is not long for this world, something that will be hard to do in light of Homer's complete ineptitude.As Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis vehicles go, this is one of the better offerings, it's basically a reworking of the 1937 William Wellman picture, Nothing Sacred. Lots of fun to be had as Martin & Lewis continue the formula that made them so appealing to the movie watching masses back in the 50s. A bonus here is the bright as a button performance from Janet Leigh, not only turning Dean Martin's { Dr Steve} head, but also the audience with an enjoyable slot into this comedy tale. As usual Jerry acts the goof whilst Dean sings and swaggers, and as usual a Martin & Lewis film is only as good as it's comedy set pieces, here they come up trumps with one sequence during a jitterbug contest particularly entertaining. It all comes together during a typically hilarious finale to leave us with a rewarding film from a very rewarding double act. 7/10

I've seen this movie many times over the last 40 years and I noticed that during the scene where they're bringing all the food "Homer" ordered to the suite, the first waiter to enter the room is Rodney Dangerfield. Unfortunately, he is not listed in the credits and I have submitted this to the IMDb database managers. I'd like someone else to look closely at that scene to make sure I'm not crazy. I know that to add the credit they need some concrete evidence, like a cast list or contract or anecdotal evidence from Rodney himself, who is no longer with us, but I'm pretty sure it's him.As for the film, overall, it's a typical silly Martin/Lewis film. Full of Jerry's mugging and Dean's singing and charm. Some good gags, especially the light bulb bombing of Fred Clark.I give it a 7 of 10.

In 1937, William Wellman directed a classic screenplay by Ben Hecht called "Nothing Sacred". This film has become a screwball comedy classic. Doctor Charles Winninger wrongly diagnoses patient Carole Lombard telling her that she has radiation poisoning. New York journalist Frederic March finds out about this and brings Lombard and Winninger to New York as a publicity stunt. March later discovers that Lombard is not going to die, but this does not matter to him; he has fallen in love with her.Now in the early 1950s, this movie was turned into a Broadway musical called "Hazel Flagg". The score was written by Jule Styne ("Anchors Away", "High Button Shoes", "Gentleman Prefer Blondes", "Gypsy", "Funny Girl") and Bob Hilliard (a Brill Building lyricist). The show was semi-successful, so Paramount decided to use it as a basis for a Martin and Lewis comedy.Dean is the skirt chasing, incompetent doctor. Jerry is the patient, becoming "Homer Flagg". March's role is given over to Janet Leigh and she falls for Dean. Some of the Broadway song are used: "How Do You Speak to an Angel", "Every Street's a Boulevard", "You're Gonna Dance with Me". Styne and Hilliard also wrote a batch of new songs for Dean and Jerry. In fact, Dean and Jerry handle all of the musical numbers.Now the movies never really captured the essence of Martin and Lewis. That is only available through kinescopes of their "Colgate Comedy Hour" and a bootleg film of a show at the Copa. The tension between the relaxed crooner-comic (Martin) being upstaged by his ambitious partner with a schizoid personality (sometimes silly juvenile, sometimes savvy show biz comic) is seen in these shows. It is truly fascinating and brings a depth to the partnership of Martin and Lewis that no other comedy team has ever had.In the movies, Dean was cast as a heel who is reformed by the end of the movie by his partner and his leading lady. Jerry is a magical sprite; he appears to be inept and clumsy, but he is way ahead of every other character in the film. While some of this is seen in "Living It Up", it is blatantly true of "Jumping Jacks". Both Dean and Jerry are full service entertainers. They are funny, the can sing, they can dance, and they can act. The shame of it all is that they broke up before they had really hit their stride. Just imagine films featuring Dean's drunk, sex maniac character which appeared very shortly after the breakup and Jerry's mature schizoid "I'm a famous movie star" clown.As for "Living It Up", it is a musical comedy which can be viewed again and again. The story is great, the songs are tuneful, and the gags are fast and funny.