There’s something so utterly and completely strange about watching Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in action together. Singing and stumbling (respectively) their way through a number of fairly mediocre feature-length comedy-musicals, theirs was one of the strangest bonds in comedy-team history. Martin was the straight man, moving in on the classy lady in each film while crooning a few numbers. Lewis was the slapstick mascot, screaming “Waaaaah” occasionally as audiences had to endure his slapstick. I loved these movies when I was a kid. Which says something about my childhood. They just seemed so crazy and fun, and I laughed uproariously whenever Lewis would do something foolish.

Paramount has now released Volume Two of the Martin & Lewis Collection, featuring the final five pics of the pair’s body of work. Like the old Hope and Crosby films, these haven’t really stood the test of time; for me, they work best as strange glimpses into a time tunnel, with ’50s comedy at the other end. In Living It Up (1954), for example, Lewis is convinced he is dying from radiation poisoning (a true knee-slapper, if ever there was one). A New York journalist (Janet Leigh) takes pity, flying Lewis and his doctor (Martin) in for a luxury vacation in the Big Apple, gratis. Trouble is, Lewis isn’t really sick after all and has to fake it for the rest of the movie. This scenario is but the first out of a groan-worthy lot. Frankly, the best parts arrive whenever Martin sings

by MATTHEW HAYS