SLAPSTICK OF ANOTHER KIND dvd
(1982)
DIRECTOR: Steven Paul
STARS: Jerry Lewis (Nutty Professor, Hardly Working), Madeline Kahn (Young Frankenstein), Marty Feldman (Sex with a Smile), John Abbott (The Vampire's Ghost), Jim Backus (C.H.O.M.P.S.), Merv Griffin (The Man with Two Brains), Samuel Fuller (American Friend, Big Red One), Pat Morita (Karate Kid), Professor Tanaka (The Running Man), Patrick Wright (One Man Jury, Bare Knuckles), Orson Welles (voice)
SYNOPSIS: While the film world is holding its collective breath for when The Day the Clown Cried is released from the vault (sometime in June 2024) only Harry Shearer can describe how bad or offensive it is. In the meantime… we have here the uncut widescreen version of another Jerry Lewis film. To be fair Mr. Lewis didn't direct this one and only stars in it. The film starts off with lifeforms from another planet (one of whom is voiced by the unseen Orson Welles) sending two alien beings to be "birthed" by super intelligent and successful parents Lewis and Kahn. Unfortunately, at the hospital their bizarre appearance repulses the new parents so greatly they immediately ship them off to be raised by strangers. Fifteen years later the twins are now living in giant sized cribs and tended to by a full house staff led by a peculiar butler (Marty Feldman). The siblings have elongated foreheads, mops of hair, buck teeth and stand 7 feet tall. They are super-intelligent but act dumb because everyone around them expects them to. This results in scenes like the brother and sister eating a meal by throwing spaghetti around the room (and on the staff), dumping soup on themselves and screeching non-stop in gibberish. In the real world an extreme energy crisis is going on and everyone, including the U.S. President (Backus), relies on chicken shit to run their cars and planes! Meanwhile, the evil Chinese government is eager to use the twin's brains for the "formula to gravity" so they can control it and rule the planet. The Chinese emperor is played by Pat Morita and he shows up throughout the film in a small, frisbee-sized, flying saucer. He's only 2 inches tall and his voice is very high pitched. At one point in the film Lewis is shipped off to a reform school ("Custer's Military School for Screwed-up Boys") run by cigar-chomping (real life) film director Samuel Fuller! It all comes to a head with most of the cast chasing down the twins for their own various purposes. The only actor who walks away from this unscathed is Marty Feldman who is very funny as the butler / caregiver with odd mannerisms and a Peter Lorre type voice. Genre vets Professor Tanaka and Patrick Wright both appear in uncredited roles. The special effects are on par with the Star Trek TV show 15 years earlier. Based on the novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It was completed in 1982 and released in 1984. Just for comparison: some other films made in 1982 include: Blade Runner, E.T., The Thing, Poltergeist. It's astounding. Did I mention it was WIDESCREEN?
*For more see: The Jet Benny Show, Prime Time, Doodles Lover Diary, Son of Hitler and Kenny Everett Video Show
Widescreen / Color
Region Free NTSC dvd-R
BLUE dvd case (above image is the front cover art)
Buy "Slapstick of Another Kind": $20.00
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