The Stooge was shot in early-1951 but withheld for nearly two years and may only have been released when it became clear that encroaching new technologies would have rendered the full-frame, black and white movie an even tougher sell by 1954.

The picture is a familiar show business story, set in New York in 1930. Singer-accordionist Bill Miller (Dean Martin) breaks with comic partner Ben Bailey (Richard Erdman) with dreams of "going single." But when Bill's stale jokes go over like a lead balloon, agent Leo (Eddie Mayehoff) talks Bill into hiring a stooge, a plant in the audience. The stooge, Ted Rogers (Jerry Lewis) is such a dimwit he's funny without realizing it, and the act becomes a big hit. But egoist Bill, steadfastly refusing to acknowledge Ted's contribution, lets success go to his head, risking his career and marriage (to Mary, a retired singer and played by Polly Bergen).

At the height of their phenomenal popularity, Dean Martin was sometimes unfairly regarded as a dead weight -- that his singing and romancing in the Martin-Lewis pictures only detracted from Lewis's antics. Lewis seemed to be doing all the work and getting all the laughs; for some Martin didn't function in the standard straight man role the way, say, Bud Abbott had for Lou Costello. But Martin's apparent effortlessness was an integral part of the act, and few who saw the team perform live would disagree.

The Martin & Lewis movies may be the most enduring, but they served the team least well. They worked best in the intimacy and with the immediacy of nightclubs, with live television running a close second. Their movies were more conventional, and while one would assume Martin's talents as a singer, as a dramatic actor (unappreciated at the time), and as a romantic lead would give him an edge over other straight men, it only seemed to get in the way. The Stooge gives Martin a rare meaty role, but it also enforced the false notion that he was basically a talentless creep riding on Lewis's coattails.

Curiously, The Stooge is reportedly Lewis's favorite Martin & Lewis picture. In one sense, this isn't surprising. It has the heavily lacquered sentiment Lewis seems to prefer, and his character is beloved by audiences, his family, and his girlfriend. Ted's also fiercely loyal and protective of Bill, and completely modest about his own abilities.

Bill, Martin's character, is the extreme opposite: a mean, petty drunk, who forces his wife into unhappy retirement, who refuses even modest billing to his wildly popular stooge, and so completely unfunny on his own you can almost hear crickets chirping in the audience when he goes at it alone. Curiously, no one ever discusses his talents as a singer, but the implication is that even this aspect of his talent would go nowhere without Ted's comic genius to support it, to give the act, as Bill finally admits, its "spark."

(mild spoiler)

At the end of the picture, Bill tries one last time to work without Ted, and the reaction is so miserable that he breaks down into a humiliating confessional of his basic worthlessness and its impact is the very opposite of what was intended. Instead of a cathartic release and acknowledgement of Ted's worth, the scene uncomfortably plays like a self-pitying Willy Loman wallowing in his own worthlessness.

Another problem is that The Stooge operates from several faulty conceits about the nature of comedy, one that Lewis would return to time and again. Ted is no professional clown. He's funny because he's a dimwit, but also because of a natural ability and, most importantly, because he has a pure heart. Like his character in The Patsy, Ted magically ad-libs a polished routine complete with costumes and props.

But Ted's onstage scenes with Bill are quite funny at times, faintly reflective of the the team's real-life chemistry when performing live. Also good are Lewis's scenes with a wide-eyed admirer, freckle-faced Genevieve Tait, played with great charm by Marion Marshall. The film is likewise bolstered by its supporting players, which include Percy Helton, Donald MacBride, Mary Treen, and Frances Bavier. In a nice touch, Bavier, as Ted's mother, has the same absurd horselaugh as her son.

Video & Audio

The Stooge is an okay transfer in its original full-frame ratio. The image is okay without being a standout. The mono sound is a little tinny at times but alright. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are included.

Extra Features

Not surprisingly, the film's trailer promises a "world's record" of laughs while basically hiding the fact the film's mostly a melodrama. The trailer is complete with text and narration.

Parting Thoughts

As the first official Martin & Lewis DVD release (not counting At War with the Army, a title long in the public domain and frequently issued in awful transfers by disreputable labels), The Stooge runs the risk of turning off those less familiar with the team, and may even impact Paramount's backing of a reported Martin & Lewis wave in 2005. Let's hope that's not the case, but neither will The Stooge rank very high on the list of most people's favorite Martin & Lewis movies. Except maybe Jerry Lewis's.

Stuart Galbraith IV is a Los Angeles and Kyoto-based film historian whose work includes The Emperor and the Wolf -- The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune. His new book, Cinema Nippon will be published by Taschen in 2005.