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The Films of Julie London
1955 to 1956
The Fighting Chance Crime Against Joe The Girl Can't Help It
1955. Republic. 70 mins. Available on DVD.
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Herbert J. Yates - Producer
William Witney - Director
Irving M. Schoenberg - Editor
Bud Thackery - Cinematographer
Houston Branch - Screenwriter
Robert Blees - Short Story Author
Frank Arrigo - Art Director
R. Dale Butts - Musical Direction/Supervision
Adele Palmer - Costume Designer
Cast:
Rod Cameron - Bill Binyon
Julie London - Janet Wales
Ben Cooper - Mike Gargan
Taylor Holmes - Railbird, the tout
Howard Wendell - James Morrison, horse owner
Mel Welles - Joe,
the bookie
Bob Steele - Gary, a jockey
Paul Birch - Auctioneer
PLOT: A friendship is ripped apart by a greedy woman in this drama. The trouble begins when a horse trainer and a jockey, both long-time friends, fall for the same woman. Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
1956. United Artists. 70 mins. Not available on VHS or DVD.
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Howard W. Koch - Producer
Lee Sholem - Director
Robert C. Dennis - Screenwriter
William Margulies - Cinematographer
Mike Pozen - Editor
Paul Dunlap - Score
Wes Jeffries,
Angela Alexander - Costume Designers
Cast:
John Bromfield - Joe Manning
Julie London - Slacks
Henry Calvin - Red Waller
Patricia Blake - Christy Rowen
Joel Ashley - Philip Rowen
John Pickard - Harry Dorn
Frances Morris - Nora Manning
Rhodes Reason - George Milles
Mauritz Hugo - Dr. Tatreau
Joyce Jameson - Gloria Wayne
Morgan Jones - Luther Wood
James Parnell - Ralph Corey
Addison Richards - District Attorney
Robert Keys - Detective Hollander
PLOT: Down-and-out artist Joe Manning (John Bromfield) wakes up from a night of drunken revelry in a jail cell, where he's being held on suspicion for the murder of a nightclub singer. It so happens that the dead woman was clutching a "class of 1945" high school pin in her hand, and it was on the basis of this circumstantial evidence that Joe was incarcerated. Provided with a phony alibi by friendly carhop Slacks (Julie London), Joe sets about to find the real killer--all the while hoping that it isn't himself. Since there are quite a few 1945 alumni in the neighborhood, Joe really has his work cut out for him. Featured in the supporting cast of Crime Against Joe is corpulent Henry Calvin, the future "Sergeant Garcia" on TV's Zorro, as Joe's cabdriver buddy. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
1956. 20th Century-Fox. 99 mins. Available on VHS and DVD.
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Frank Tashlin - Screenwriter, Producer, Director
Leon Shamroy - Cinematographer
Harbert Baker - Screenwriter
James B. Clark - Editor
Lionel Newman - Score
Lyle Wheeler,
Leland Fuller - Art Directors
Bobby Troup - Songwriter
Charles LeMaire - Costume Designer
Ben Nye, Sr. - Makeup
Cast:
Tom Ewell - Tom Miller
Jayne Mansfield - Jerri Jordan
Edmond O'Brien - Marty Murdock
Henry Jones - Mousie
Julie London - Herself
John Emery - Wheeler
Ray Anthony - Himself
Barry J. Gordon - Himself
Juanita Moore - Hilda
Fats Domino - Himself
Eddie Fontaine - Himself
Abbey Lincoln - Herself
Johnny Olenn - Himself
Nino Tempo - Himself
Eddie Cochran - Himself
Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps - Themselves
Little Richard - Himself
The Chuckles - Themselves
The Platters - Themselves
The Treniers - Themselves
PLOT: The inimitable writer-director Frank Tashlin once more aims his satiric barbs at modern culture (modern 1950s culture, that is) in The Girl Can't Help It. Much of the film is dominated by Edmond O'Brien as mob boss Murdock, who while serving a term in federal prison becomes a singing sensation with his hit tune "Rock Around the Rock Pile." Once he's sprung, Murdock hires impoverished agent Tom Miller (Tom Ewell), not to promote his own career, but to turn his curvaceous lady friend Jerri Jordan (Jayne Mansfield) into a star. Alas, Jerri has no singing or acting talent whatsoever, a fact that she's eager and willing to admit. A domestic type at heart, all Jerri really wants out of life is to marry Murdock, so that she can clean his house, cook his meals and raise his children. When Murdock refuses to grant her wishes, Jerri falls in love with Tom instead.
Every so often, director Tashlin takes time out from the plot to poke fun at such technical marvels as CinemaScope and Technicolor, and to lampoon the American male's fixation on female bosoms and bottoms (at one point, Jayne Mansfield leans towards the camera, her cleavage exposed as far as the censors will allow, and plaintively asks Tom Ewell if he believes that she's equipped for motherhood). While much of the humor in the film is dated, The Girl Can't Help It is an invaluable record of the pop-music scene of the 1950s, featuring such guest artists as Julie London (playing Tom Ewell's dream girl), Ray Anthony, Fats Domino, The Platters, Little Richard and his Band, Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps, the Treniers, Eddie Fontaine, Abbey Lincoln and Eddie Cochran. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
New York Times review by Bosley Crowther (February 9, 1957)
The recognized fact that women are shaped somewhat differently from men is the only apparent justification for Jayne Mansfield's being in Twentieth Century-Fox' "The Girl Can't Help It," which came to the Roxy yesterday. Miss Mansfield has a figure that is so different it's hard to believe, but what she can do in the way of acting, beyond wiggle and squirm, remains to be seen.
True, her failure to give a demonstration in this her first film starring role, arrived at from "bit" parts in movies via a freakish foray on the Broadway stage, may not be her fault entirely. (Let's give her the benefit of several doubts.) It may be the fault of Frank Tashlin, who produced, directed and helped to write this film.
Apparently, Mr. Tashlin was so staggered by Miss Mansfield's shape that he couldn't get his mind off the subject—nor the camera, nor even the picture's plot. His script is concerned entirely with the theatrical advancement of a dame whose figure is so phenomenal that it yanks people's eyes right out of their heads. And his penchant for placing the camera and Miss Mansfield (whenever she's on the screen) in such relation as to pinpoint the phenomenon approaches the grotesque.
Even so, and for all the other obstacles, such as Tom Ewell and Edmond O'Brien, that are put in the way of the blonde actress' demonstrating her histrionic skill, it definitely looks as though the lady has a long way to go to be a Duse. Her range, at this stage, appears restricted to a weak imitation of Marilyn Monroe. And the fact that it is imitation, rather than trenchant parody, is revealed by Miss Mansfield's gaucheness with such broad things as powder-room jokes. She stumbles all over several that Mr. Tashlin has coyly scattered through the film.
A hint of her limitation is given in something other than the plot, which comes to the hopeless conclusion that she can do nothing more than make weird sounds. It is tipped by the fact that the picture is heavily padded with singers and rock 'n' roll bands, which swiftly take over at frequent intervals when the principals appear at their wits' ends.
Among these makers of music are The Treniers, Little Richard and his Band, The Chuckles, Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps. Johnny Olenn and Fats Domino. The vigor with which they grab the spotlight and beat out their agonized tunes reminds one of the way alert bullfighters rush into the ring when a companion is being gored.
Julie London is also shoved on briskly to act a mawkish charade as Mr. Ewell's unforgettable sweetheart, while singing "Cry Me a River," a tear-drenched song.
As for the masculine performing of Mr. Ewell and Mr. O'Brien, who play the press-agent of Miss Mansfield and her ex-gangster sponsor, respectively, it is bleary-eyed, broad and boisterous. They are just what you'd expect mere men to be when placed at the hopeless disadvantage that Mr. Tashlin has concocted for them here.
Sure, the scenery is splashy and sporty in color and CinemaScope. But the show is as meager and witless as a cheap pin-up magazine joke.
1950 - 1951 1955 - 1956 1957
