THE DISORDERLY ORDERLY

Stars:Jerry Lewis and Susan Oliver
Genre: Comedy

Year: 1964

The Disorderly Orderly rides on the manic intensity of Jerry Lewis an he delivers a terrific performance in the movie.

Jerome Littlefield(Lewis) is an orderly at the Whitestone Sanitorium who suffers from a psychosomatic disorder that causes him to suffer from the symptoms of others.His manic antics create all sorts of difficulties for the management of the sanitorium.

He is romantically involved with a nurse,Julie(Karen Sharpe).One day his high school crush Susan Andrews(Susan Oliver) is brought to the sanitorium after a suicide attempt.Jerome feels sorry for her and starts caring for her.He helps her in changing her attitude towards life and she makes a complete recovery.Its only then that she remembers him and kisses him but Jerome is in love with Julie.When he finds out that Julie has left the sanitorium,he heads to find her which leads to all sorts of mayhem and destruction(the Lewis way).In the end he find her and tells her that he loves her and thus the movie ends on a happy note.

POST-SYNOP ANALYSIS:

The Disorderly Orderly is one Lewis's best comedies.Like almost all his movies the story is not that strong but Lewis makes up for that through his antics.He gets strong support from the entire cast.The movie was directed by Lewis's longtim collaborator Frank Tashlin and written by Ed Haas and Norm Liebermann.The screenplay was written by Tashlin.

Rating: 5/10

MOVE OVER DARLING

Stars:Doris Day,James Garner and Chuck Connors
Genre: Comedy
Year: 1963
Move Over Darling is a remake of the 1940 Cary Grant and Irene Dunne movie My Favorite Wife.
THE PLOT:
Ellen Arden(Day),after being shipwrecked on an island for five years returns home to find out that her husband Nick(Garner) has married again that same morning and her children don't recognize her either.She finds this from Nick's mother Grace(Thelma Ritter) and Grace also tell's her that he had gone for honeymoon in the same hotel Nick took Ellen when they got married.But she is determined to stop the honeymoon from going ahead and she heads for the hotel.
On seeing Ellen againNick is at first shocked but then relieved.He is still very much in love with Ellen but cannot tell Bianca(Polly Bergen),his new wife about Ellen.He finally gathers courage and tells Bianca who is shocked to hear the news.But just as he clears things up with Bianca Nick finds out that Ellen was not alone on the island all these years and a man named Stephen Burkett(Chuck Connors) was living with her on the island.This arouses suspicion in Nick's mind bu in the end everything is cleared up and the movie end's on a happy note.
BACK STORY:
Move Over Darling was actually titled Something's Got to Give and it had Marilyn Manroe,Dean Martin and Lee Remick as the stars and George Cukor as the director.But the project never finished.Monroe was having psychological problems and she often used to arrive at the set late.Eventually she was fired from the movie but then Dean Martin refused to work stating he would only work with Monroe.The studio 20th Century Fox brought back Monroe but then her sudden death brought the project to a halt.They had invested too much in the movie to scrap it. So they went on with the project with a completely new cast and director.
SUM-UP
Move Over Darling is a hilariously entertaining movie.Although not as good as the Rock Hudson/Doris Day movies this is still a satisfying entertainer.The entire cast is good and so is the screenplay/writing(4 writers worked on the story).This would make for a great saturfay afternoon/evening matinee.Rating 6/10.

KING SOLOMON'S MINES

Stars:Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr
Genre:Action/Adventure
Year: 1950
The best movie adoption of H.Rider Haggard's classic adventure story!There have been a few movie adoptions of the novel but non matches the class,setting,adventure and the fantastic atmosphere of this movie.It's good old fashioned Hollywood adventure with not a single dull moment in the entire movie.

The movie does take liberties from the novel but this has been the case with all the movie adoptions of the book.A female lead is present in all the versions whereas the novel had all male characters. I guess this was done to attract male audiences to theaters.The movie had two directors,Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton.This was Bennett's most popular movie.Marton was one of the directors of the war epic The Longest Day.He also served as second unit director on the legendary movie Ben Hur(1959).
The entire movie was shot on location in Africa and was produced by MGM.An obscure sequel,Watusi was made by the same studio in 1959.
WHAT'S IT ABOUT
Allan Quatermain(Granger),an experienced guide and hunter reluctantly agrees to help Elizabeth Curtis(Kerr) search for her husband who has disappeared in Africa.John Goode(Richard Carlson),Liz's brother also comes along.Her husband had come to Africa in search of the famed King Solomon's Mines.She has a mysterious map ehich she shows to Alllan but he is apprehensive about all the story.But he agrees to become their guide.Accompanying them is a native,Umbopa.
During their journey they face many obstacles and hardships.Both Allan and Liz are head strong and some what stubborn and that is why there is a lot of friction between them.As expected from a Hollywood movie of that era,both start to fall in love with each other during the journey.

The group comes across Van Brun(Hugo Haas) a white hunter living as a king amongst a native African tribe.He tells the party that he has seen Curtis.But Allan recognizes him as a fugitive from the law.Brun realizes that and tries to take the party hostage but Allan gets the better of him and uses him as a shield to get out of the village.While escaping,Allan kills Brun and the party flees from the angry villagers.
They finally reach the region where the mines are suppose to be.They ar surprised to find out that their companion Umbopa is the rightful king of the region who has come with them to reclaim his throne.He fights with the best warrior the evil king of the region has.Umbpa wins and reclaims the throne.
The evil kings advisor Gagool tells the party that he has seen Curtis and will take them to him.When they get inside the cave where Curtis supposedly is (he is in cave filled with a trove of priceless jewellry)Gagool closes the mouth of the cave while the group is distracted by the discovery of the treasure.It is then that they realize that Curtis had been killed by the evil king's men.The group abandons the treasure but manages to find a way out through a stream.When they reach near the village they are met with Umbopa.Umbopa makes arrangements for his friends to get back home and this is where the movie ends.
POST SYNOP ANALYSIS
The movie is one of the greatest African adventures of all time.There have been a lot of movies made about Africa but this is probably second best African adventure movie ever made.The Ghost and the Darkness is probably the best that i have seen.The acting by the entire cast is solid and so is the story.The romance angle is a little hard to digest but other than that there is nothing wrong with the entire movie.Its rip roaring entertainment all the way.Highly recommended.
Rating: 7.8/10

CIRCUS WORLD

Stars:John Wayne,Rita Hayworth and Claudia Cardinale
Genre: Drama
Year: 1964
Circus World is a little known John Wayne film.I myself didn't know about it until a few months ago when i watched it on a local movie channel.I guess one reason for the movies obvscurity is that it was an independent movie,made without any major Hollywood studio's backing and studio backed films were always and still are well marketed before and after their release.I wasn't around in 64' but i am just assuming that it could have been a disadvantage for the movie.Unfortunately the movie didn't do well at the box office either.According to an article about the movie in wikipedia,their were problems on the set right from the begining.Rita Hayworth was sick and often late for work.She had fits of rage and was abusive to her co-stars.This perturbed Wayne,who had earlier worked with her in The Conquerer.But the film was completed but didn't reap the desired results.
WHAT'S IT ABOUT
The movie is set around a Circus during the turn of the 20th Century.Matt Maters(Wayne) is the owner of the show who comes to Europe with his troupe in search of his lady love Lili(Hayworh).He is accompanied by Toni(Cardinale),who is also Lili's daughter.Lili abandoned the child many yerars ago but Matt raises her as his own daughter.Disaster strikes when ship in which the circus is travelling,sinks but Matt is able to raise the circus again with the help of some European performers.He finds Lili and after some melo drama the daughet and mother are reunited and the movie ends on a happy note.
POST SYNOP ANALYSIS
Overall Circus World is an okay movie,its not a great movie...not even good movie but it is an average time passer.People who like melodramas might enjoy it but average cine-fans like myself would be disappointed.I am a big fan of the Duke but this is not his best effort.The performances are average although Rita Hayworth was nominated for an academy award for her role in the movie.
Rating:4/10