The Girl Can’t Help It 04/23/22

All hail Frank Tashlin!  The ex-cartoon director all but invented our fixation on extreme ’50s style, and in this musical comedy wrangles the top obsessions of the decade, rock ‘n’ roll and buxom Hollywood sex appeal as represented by Jayne Mansfield and her milk bottles. Tom Ewell and a hilarious Edmond O’Brien are the Old School representatitves of Show Biz and gangsterism, while the CinemaScope screen is assaulted by Little Richard, Fats Domino and Eddie Cochran, with some love left over for Julie (swoon) London. Reviewer Charlie Largent sees the truth through the blinding primary colors: is the fetishistic worship of Mansfield homogenized, or merely lactose indulgent?  On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
04/23/22