At first apprehensive, given how old-fashioned this comedy was, I gradually got into it and discovered the minor charms of a genuine, sincere "family" film of its era. I'm glad to have stuck with it, as growing up I was a fan of Ray Charles and Bobby Vee -I even had the "Bobby Vee Meet the Ventures" early in my collection.
With Peter Marshall doing the Bud Abbott style quasi-straight man and Noonan as the clearly Jerry Lewis-aimed lovable dimwit, the movie is hard to watch early on, but picks up as the sentimentality, delivered by director of so many successful film for children (and family audiences) Charles Barton, has its quaint charm. The tired gags are performed earnestly and even a throwback to Silent Comedy (most specifically Harold Lloyd) is staged rather elaborately in the chase after the wind-propelled sheet music, with a building looking suspiciously like the Flatiron Building dominating the frame, though set in Frisco instead of Manhattan.
A major pleasure for me was to see Barbara Eden, so early in her career (shot in 1960) styled with the sophistication of a Hitchcock heroine of the '50s/'60s, like Eva Marie Saint. In this period I thought of her as a sex symbol, based on her very hot performance in the otherwise G-rated "Seven Faces of Dr. Lao" which I caught back then on a matinee.
The fact that 20th Century-Fox produced this extremely minor movie on an expansive level, in Cineamascope and color (Eastman) yet, really impressed me; back at the time I saw many a Fox 'Scope release but they were usually in black & white as B movies (e.g., sci-fi and horror such as "Space Master X-7".
With Peter Marshall doing the Bud Abbott style quasi-straight man and Noonan as the clearly Jerry Lewis-aimed lovable dimwit, the movie is hard to watch early on, but picks up as the sentimentality, delivered by director of so many successful film for children (and family audiences) Charles Barton, has its quaint charm. The tired gags are performed earnestly and even a throwback to Silent Comedy (most specifically Harold Lloyd) is staged rather elaborately in the chase after the wind-propelled sheet music, with a building looking suspiciously like the Flatiron Building dominating the frame, though set in Frisco instead of Manhattan.
A major pleasure for me was to see Barbara Eden, so early in her career (shot in 1960) styled with the sophistication of a Hitchcock heroine of the '50s/'60s, like Eva Marie Saint. In this period I thought of her as a sex symbol, based on her very hot performance in the otherwise G-rated "Seven Faces of Dr. Lao" which I caught back then on a matinee.
The fact that 20th Century-Fox produced this extremely minor movie on an expansive level, in Cineamascope and color (Eastman) yet, really impressed me; back at the time I saw many a Fox 'Scope release but they were usually in black & white as B movies (e.g., sci-fi and horror such as "Space Master X-7".
