Holiday Gift Guide: Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis Collection

During my childhood I would watch one or two older movies on AMC (before they had commercials) every weekend, which a few of my favorites were the Blondie & Dagwood films, Tarzan serials, and the Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis comedies. Besides from the Blondie films, the others are hardly ever aired on cable anymore, but luckily for me most of them are available to own on DVD.

Early this year, Mill Creek Entertainment released the Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis Collection (Not Rated; 29 hours 18 minutes; $29.98), which contains three separate releases - Comedy Triple Feature with Jerry Lewis, Comedy Double Feature with Dean Martin, and Televisions Greatest Comedy Tea with Marty & Lewis.

Comedy Triple Feature with Jerry Lewis features the following films:

Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1967; G) - Jerry Lewis stars as George Lester, an American con artist who married a rich British woman. After turning his wife's home into casino, she threatens to leave him, so he comes up with a scheme to win her back.
Hook, Line & Sinker (1969; G) Jerry Lewis stars as Peter Ingersoll, a former insurance salesman who believes he doesn't have much time to live. He maxes out his credit cards and takes a fishing trip.
Three on a Couch (1966; Not Rated) Jerry Lewis stars as Christopher Pride, a businessman who is soon to be moving to Paris for a year. He wants his fiance Dr. Elizabeth Acord (played by Janet Leigh) to go with him, but she is dedicated to three of her patients, who are all single women with relationship troubles. He takes it upon himself to get each of her patients to fall in love with him, so they will no longer need Elizabeth as their shrink.

Comedy Double Feature with Dean Martin features the following movies:

Who Was That Lady? (1959; Not Rated) - The film involves Dean Martin helping his best friend David (played by Tony Curtis) come up with an outrageous excuse to explain to his wife (played by Janet Leigh) why he was kissing a younger woman in his office.

How To Save A Marriage And Ruin Your Life (1967; Not Rated) - Dean Martin plays David Sloane, who is best friends with Harry Hunter (played by Eli Wallach). Harry has been having affair for quite some time, but wants to put end to the relationship to help save his marriage. This is where David decides to do him a favor by giving Harry's mistress a better offer. However, due to a misunderstanding David ends up wooing the wrong the woman.

Television Greatest Comedy Team Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis contains over 20 hours of their performances from the Colgate Comedy Hour, a variety show that aired from 1950 to 1955. Guest stars include Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, Dorothy Dandridge, Burt Lancaster, and Rosemary Clooney.

Final Thoughts

The three Jerry Lewis films in the collection are funny, but they're aren't the best out of his solo movies. I had reviewed the individual release of this title earlier in the year. You can read my review here.

The two Dean Martin films are my favorite from the set, though he's almost playing the same character in both films. Who Was That Lady? is centered more on Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh with Dean Martin in a supporting role. How To Save Your Marriage and Ruin Your Life features an older Dean Martin playing the main role as a lawyer who gets stuck with a mistress that he didn't even want to begin with.

Television's Greatest Comedy Team with Martin & Lewis features 28 edited episodes from The Colgate Comedy Hour on a 4-disc set.

The picture quality for the Dean Martin films are pretty good, but the Jerry Lewis films aren't the best, mostly because three movies are shoved onto one disc.

Overall, I enjoyed watching all the movies and variety show episodes on the Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis Collection. It would make a great gift for any Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis fan.