Summary
In 1956, Frank Tashlin brought the talent for zany visual gags and absurdist pop-culture satire that he'd honed as a master of animation to the task of capturing, in glorious DeLuxe Color, a brand-new craze: rock and roll. This blissfully bonkers jukebox musical tells the story of a mobster's bombshell girlfriend the one and only Jayne Mansfield, in a showstopping first major film role and the washed-up talent agent who seeks to revive his career by turning her into a musical sensation. The only question is: Can she sing? A CinemaScope feast of eye-popping midcentury design, it bops along to a parade of performances by rock-and-roll trailblazers including Little Richard, Fats Domino, Julie London, Eddie Cochran, the Platters, and Gene Vincent who light up the screen with the uniquely American sound that was about to conquer the world.
Additional Information
| Series | Criterion collection ; 1120. |
| Subjects |
Gangsters
-- Drama.
Man-woman relationships -- Drama. Singers -- Drama. Musical films. Comedy films. Feature films. Fiction films. Video recordings for the hearing impaired. |
| Publisher | [New York, N.Y.] :Criterion Collection,2022 |
| Edition | DVD special edition, Widescreen. |
| Other Titles | Girl cannot help it |
| Contributors |
Tashlin, Frank,
film director, screenwriter, film producer. Baker, Herbert, screenwriter. Ewell, Tom, 1909-1994, actor. Mansfield, Jayne, 1933-1967, actor. O'Brien, Edmond, 1915-1985, actor. London, Julie, 1926-2000, performer. Anthony, Ray, 1922- performer. Gordon, Barry, 1948- actor. Jones, Henry, 1912-1999, actor. Emery, John, 1905-1964, actor. Moore, Juanita, actor. Domino, Fats, 1928-2017, performer. Little Richard, 1932-2020, performer. Vincent, Gene, 1935-1971, performer. Cochran, Eddie, 1938-1960, performer. Platters (Musical group), performer. Blue Caps (Musical group), performer. Treniers (Musical group), performer. 20th Century Studios, presenter. Cinemascope (Firm), production company. Criterion Collection (Firm), publisher. |
| Participants/Performers |
Tom Ewell, Jayne Mansfield, Edmond O'Brien, Julie London, Ray Anthony, Barry Gordon, Henry Jones, John Emery, Juanita Moore, Fats Domino, The Platters, Little Richard and his Band, Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps, The Treniers, Eddie Cochran. |
| Other Contributors |
Director of photography, Leon Shamroy ; editor, James B. Clark ; music supervised and conducted by Lionel Newman. |
| Language |
English In English; with English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired (SDH). |
| Notes |
Originally released as a motion picture in 1956. Special features: Audio commentary featuring scholar Toby Miller; New video essay by film critic David Cairns; Interview with filmmaker John Waters; New conversation between WFMU DJs Dave "the Spazz" Abramson and Gaylord Fields about the music in the film; New interview with Eve Golden, author of "Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn't Help It"; On-set footage; Interviews with actor Jayne Mansfield (1957) and musician Little Richard (1984); Episode of Karina Longworth's podcast "You must remember this" about Mansfield; Trailer; booklet containing an essay by critic Rachel Syme. |
| System Details |
DVD; NTSC; region 1; widescreen (2.35:1) presentation; monaural. |
| Description |
1 videodisc (97 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 folded booklet. |
| ISBN | 9781681439280 168143928X |
| Other | Classic View |