The Girl Can't Help It [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Frank Tashlin Frank Tashlin

Overview

The inimitable writer-director Frank Tashlin once more aims his satiric barbs at modern culture (modern 1950s culture, that is) in The Girl Can't Help It. Much of the film is dominated by Edmond O'Brien as mob boss Murdock, who while serving a term in federal prison becomes a singing sensation with his hit tune "Rock Around the Rock Pile." Once he's sprung, Murdock hires impoverished agent Tom Miller (Tom Ewell), not to promote his own career, but to turn his curvaceous lady friend Jerri Jordan (Jayne Mansfield) into a star. Alas, Jerri has no singing or acting talent whatsoever, a fact that she's eager and willing to admit. A domestic type at heart, all Jerri really wants out of life is to marry Murdock, so that she can clean his house, cook his meals and raise his children. When Murdock refuses to grant her wishes, Jerri falls in love with Tom instead.

Every so often, director Tashlin takes time out from the plot to poke fun at such technical marvels as CinemaScope and Technicolor, and to lampoon the American male's fixation on female bosoms and bottoms (at one point, Jayne Mansfield leans towards the camera, her cleavage exposed as far as the censors will allow, and plaintively asks Tom Ewell if he believes that she's equipped for motherhood). While much of the humor in the film is dated, The Girl Can't Help It is an invaluable record of the pop-music scene of the 1950s, featuring such guest artists as Julie London (playing Tom Ewell's dream girl), Ray Anthony, Fats Domino, The Platters, Little Richard and his Band, Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps, the Treniers, Eddie Fontaine, Abbey Lincoln and Eddie Cochran.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/19/2022
UPC:	0715515270915
Original Release:	1956
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English
Sales rank:	8,868

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tom Ewell	Tom Miller
Jayne Mansfield	Jerri Jordan
Edmond O'Brien	Marty 'Fats' Murdock
Julie London	Herself
Henry Jones	Mousie
John Emery	`Legs' Wheeler
Juanita Moore	Hilda, The Maid
Barry Gordon	Himself
Ray Anthony	Himself
Little Richard	Himself
Fats Domino	Himself
Gene Vincent	Himself
Eddy Fontaine	Himself,Himself
Abbey Lincoln	Herself
Johnny Olenn	Himself
Nino Tempo	Himself
Eddie Cochran	Himself
Sue Carlton	Teenager
Richard Collier	Milkman
Alex Frazer	Rogers
Barry J. Gordon	Himself
Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps	Themselves
Leigh Harline	Composer
Lionel Newman	Composer

Technical Credits

Frank Tashlin

Herbert Baker

Garson Kanin

Ray Kellogg	Special Effects
Frank Tashlin	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Herbert Baker	Screenwriter
Garson Kanin	Screenwriter
Harry M. Leonard	Sound/Sound Designer
E. Clayton Ward	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Another wild, cartoon-like satire from director Frank Tashlin's '50s heyday, The Girl Can't Help It takes on the then-new rock & roll explosion. If Tashlin has fun with the subject, he must also realize that he's found the perfect musical correlative for his vision. A scene in which Jayne Mansfield wreaks havoc by simply walking a street filled with excitable men, accompanied by Little Richard's title track, is alone worth the price of admission, but it's a credit to Tashlin's skill that it's only one of many. Anchoring the absurd asides is a fine performance by Tom Ewell, who lends his protagonist a great deal of sympathy, just as Tony Randall did in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Also, as in that other film, Mansfield proves herself a far more adept comedienne than usually credited. A guest roster of bona fide rock & roll legends only solidifies the appeal of one of Tashlin's boldest and best efforts.

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