Jack Lemmon Film
Collection
(Phffft!/Operation Mad Ball/The
Notorious Landlady/Under the Yum Yum
Tree/Good Neighbor Sam/Sony DVD
Box Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Films: B-
Sony has
assembled together a fine set of some of Jack Lemmon’s earlier and lesser-known
films in this terrific set simply called the Jack Lemmon Film Collection. You can see here how this charming actor
establishes himself as one of the icons of his generation as we begin with his
1954 film Phffft! and work out way
ten years later to 1964’s Good Neighbor
Sam. These films all take place
prior to Lemmon’s more infamous work, which was fortified in 1968’s The Odd Couple, reviewed here.
This is
the first time that these films have been released to DVD, many are probably
unfamiliar with most of these, they are predominately wacky comedies filled
with mayhem that best suited Lemmon, it’s great that Sony decided to piece
these together in a set, plus give us some decent extras to really make this
feel as valuable as it is.
Phffft! features Kim Novak and involves
the craziness with a married couple who get a divorce, but realize that
regardless of how much they try to stay apart, they are destined to come back
together, the comedy wears a bit thin after awhile, but is still charming and
very inspiring nonetheless.
Operation Mad Ball is a military spoof, which
reminded me more of something that Peter Sellers would have done, Lemmon plays
a Army private who is trying to throw a party to liven things up under the
disciplinary actions of his commanding officer, the plot is a bit shallow, so
it seems that 104-minutes is just a bit too long for this comedy to really
tighten up and work.
The Notorious Landlady from 1962 involves Lemmon as an
American diplomat who finds himself involved in a caper with his landlady that
combines stolen jewels, murder, and obscene amounts of laughs throughout, this
is one of the better films in the bunch.
1963’s Under the Yum Yum Tree is a delightful
comedy in which Lemmon this time is a landlord who seems to have brought on
more than he can handle when he falls in love with a tenant and attempts to
convince her to dump her fiancée and give him a chance. Running 110-minutes this comedy stretches
itself too thin, despite Lemmon’s ability to hook us with each scene.
Good Neighbor Sam is a married ad man who decides
to pose as the husband of a beautiful single girl in order to help her land an
inheritance, but with more lies building, this comedy can only come to a
not-so-good ending for all those involved, especially when it comes to the
marriage.
The bonus
materials included feature a documentary hosted by Chris Lemmon called Jack Lemmon: The Man Behind the Magic,
which is thorough and a good addition to this set, it will certainly make fans
happy and serves as a good retrospective, there is also a photo gallery along
with an episode from the Ford All-Star theater featuring Lemmon, plus the
original trailers for all 5 films.
A decent
addition to any collection, a must-have for Lemmon fans.
- Nate Goss
