The Girl Can't Help It (1956) - Fabulous Mansfield and colossal rock 'n' roll push in Tashlin classic

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Sex-bomb Jayne Mansfield more than catches the eye on this colorful poster for Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It, which also allures with its countless rock 'n' roll star names in the bottom right corner

A drunken music agent gets a call from a gangster, who wants him to make his sexy blonde girlfriend a star. But that's easier said than done ...

 

The Girl Can't Help It is written by Herbert Baker (Rickles (1975, TV movie)) and co-writer/producer/director Frank Tashlin (The First Time (1952)), based on Do Re Mi (1955) by Garson Kanin (Smash (1980)).

Jayne Mansfield (The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958)) is splendid, fun, eye-popping and lovely as Jerri Jordan, the girlfriend in question, one of the all-time biggest blonde bombshells on cinema here in Tashlin's Deluxe-colored, playful, saucy movie. The plot is thin and anything but nerve-wracking, which leaves room for the film's swinging rock 'n' roll acts, and in particular Little Richard, who performs The Girl Can't Help It, Ready Teddy and She's Got It, is incredible to hear and behold. The Girl Can't Help It also has its good share of really funny bits.

The men in the film look funny enough, and they unquestionably raised more mirth in their time than they do now, but their few scenes without Mansfield lose the film some momentum. They are luckily few. The Girl Can't Help It is a cool blast of a time.

Related post:

Frank Tashlin: The Disorderly Orderly (1964) or, Lewis in a Hospital

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 1.3 mil. $

Box office: 6.25 mil. $ (likely just North America)

= Big hit (returned at least 4.80 times its cost)

[The Girl Can't Help It premiered 1 December (USA) and runs 99 minutes. Filming took place in California, including Los Angeles, around September 1956. Whether the 6.25 mil. $ gross, which stems from Twentieth Century Fox books, is just the North-American gross is unsure but entirely possible. The film won a Golden Globe and it had a profound effect on rock music history, as it inspired the later members of The Beatles to meet and pursue their dream. Tashlin returned with Hollywood or Bust (1956). Mansfield returned in Shower of Stars (1957, TV-series) and theatrically in The Wayward Bus (1957); Tom Ewell (State Fair (1962)) in A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed (1958); and Edmond O'Brien (The Love God? (1969)) in Lux Video Theatre (1951-57) and theatrically in The Big Land (1957). The Girl Can't Help It is fresh at 75 % with a 6.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Girl Can't Help It?

The Barefoot Contessa (1954) - Old Hollywood sophistication with Bogart, Gardner

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Spry, full colors and sensual life stirs from this elegant poster for Joseph L. Mankiewicz's The Barefoot Contessa

Humphrey Bogart (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)) is Hollywood director Harry Dawes, and Ava Gardner (The Killers (1946)) is the stunning Spanish beauty Maria Vargas, who gets discovered by him. Her life as the 'barefoot contessa' is a life of fairy tale complexes and solid baggage, leading up to her premature death, which we know about right from the beginning of the film.

 

The Barefoot Contessa is written, produced and directed by great Pennsylvanian filmmaker Joseph L. Mankiewicz (Dragonwyck (1946)).

If you haven't seen The Barefoot Contessa, oh, do you have a wonderful and sad movie waiting for you here. It is a story about a lot of jet-set characters, who struggle with life's dark sides just as every other person. Mankiewicz's dialog is especially sharp and incredible. The Barefoot Contessa is one of the Hollywood giant's most splendid works.
Bogart and in even more so Edmond O'Brien (White Heat (1949)), who plays the perspiring PR-agent, are great in the film.
The Barefoot Contessa is a sophisticated, enchanting and deeply melancholic tragic drama.

 

Watch the lovely trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown, projected 2 mil. $
Box office: In excess of 3.25 mil. $ (North-American rentals alone)
= Uncertain but likely a box office success (projected return of 2.5 times its cost)

[The Barefoot Contessa premiered 29 September (New York) and runs 130 minutes. Shooting took place in Italy, including in Rome, from January - March 1954. A 1955 Variety article lists its North-American rentals as 3.25 mil. $. The projected cost of 2 mil. $ and world gross of 5 mil. $ would make it a box office success. It was nominated for 2 Oscars: It won Best Supporting Actor (O'Brien) and lost Best Writing, Story and Screenplay to Budd Schulberg for On the Waterfront. It also won a Golden Globe, among other honors. Mankiewicz returned with Guys and Dolls (1955). Bogart returned in Producer's Showcase (1955, TV-series) and theatrically in We're No Angels (1955); Gardner in Bhowani Junction (1956). The Barefoot Contessa is fresh at 100 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Barefoot Contessa?