The Ladies' Man

In class on Wednesday, we watched the movie Delicatessen, which was done by the same director who did Amelie. I kind of hated Amelie, because I can only take so much whimsy in a movie. I liked this one better, because at least it was dark enough to offset the whimsy. There were still some things that bugged me, but I'm glad I saw it.

Talking about movies with invented sets made me think of one of my favorite movies, for which the director and star Jerry Lewis constructed the largest indoor film set of all time.



Jerry Lewis is kind of considered a joke now, if he's even remembered at all. But at one time he was an excellent comedian, and an incredible dancer. His old variety show with Dean Martin, which he did when he was my age, is really amazing to watch. When he became a director, though, he was surprisingly innovative. He invented a lot of tools used in filmmaking today, such as the picture-in-picture video assist.
When he made his film The Ladies' Man, he constructed an elaborate sixty-room set and an elevated director's chair so he could go from room to room in one shot. And each of the rooms themselves were visually striking and color-coordinated in their own way.

Here's one of my favorite scenes, which introduces a character named "Mrs. Cartilage", who lives in "the forbidden room."