Jayne Mansfield Collection (The Girl Can't Help It / The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw / Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?)
by Frank Tashlin, Raoul Walsh
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Actor: Edmond O'Brien, Jayne Mansfield, Kenneth More, Tom Ewell, Tony RandallDirector: Frank Tashlin, Raoul Walsh
Brand: Twentieth Century Fox
Writer: Frank Tashlin
Writer: Garson Kanin
Writer: George Axelrod
Writer: Herbert Baker
Writer: Howard Dimsdale
Writer: Jacob Hay
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 292 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-08-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of Jayne Mansfield Collection (The Girl Can't Help It / The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw / Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?)
DVD Review: A Must for Mansfield Fans
Summary: 4 Stars
The Jayne Mansfield Collection is a set of three movies featuring that beautiful, buxom and blonde movie star from the 1950s and 1960s. I had only seen one of them before I bought the set, and having watched all three discs I can say that it was a worthwhile purchase.
The earliest film is the set is 1955's "The Girl Can't Help It." This film is a gem, both for Jayne's performance (not to mention her looks) and the musical performances by a great many rock and pop singers of the time. Tom Ewell co-stars as Tom Miller, a down-on-his-luck talent agent who's enlisted by mobster Marty "Fats" Murdoch (Edmond O'Brien) to make a musical star of his bride-to-be, Jerri Jordan (Ms. Mansfield) - in just six weeks time! (Fats was once a big man in the illegal slot machine business, and he can't lower himself to marry a nobody.)
So, Tom goes out to different clubs and gets Jerri to parade around, showing off her hourglass figure to the club's owners - and they definitely pay attention! - to get her some exposure. Along the way, we're treated to performances by the likes of Little Richard, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, Abbey Lincoln, Ray Anthony, Eddie Fontaine, Eddie Cochrane, the Platters and more. Perhaps the most remarkable musical treat comes to us from the beautiful Julie London, who sings her big hit "Cry Me A River" in a number of different outfits and locations, as Tom tries to forget his past relationship with her.
Henry Jones also co-starred in "Girl Can't Help It" as Fats' right hand man Mousie, but he plays a larger role in the next film, "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" - another one not to miss. Jayne Mansfield reprises the roll she played very successfully on Broadway for the 1957 film - that of a bombshell movie star very like herself, here with the name of Rita Marlowe. Tony Randall co-stars as Rockwell Hunter, an advertising man working on the Stay Put lipstick campaign.
When his boss (Jones) tells him that the firm may soon lose the Stay Put account, Rock dreams up the idea of getting Rita Marlowe to endorse it. As it happens, she's in town to get away from her boyfriend, Bobo Branigansky (played by Mansfield real life husband, Mickey Hargitay) with whom she's had a fight, and decides to get even with him by pretending to be in love with the next man who happens to come to her - which happens to be Rock, trying to get her endorsement.
Mayhem of course ensues as Rock is dubbed "Lover Doll" and has to put up with the charade in order to get the endorement. Mansfield and Randall play their parts very well, ably supported by Jones, John Williams as the ad agency's president and John Blondell (who gets a big scene of her own) as Rita's assistant. There's even a very special cameo appearance at the end to play the part of Rita's one true love, Georgie Schmidlap.
It's interesting to note that references are made in this film to three other Mansfield films - "Girl Can't Help It" from the previous year, plus "The Wayward Bus" and "Kiss Them For Me" of the same year - with Rita Marlowe being the star of them this time!
The third film in the set is like a fish out of water compared to the two others. While the first two are contemporary in their setting and were directed by Frank Tashlin, "The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw"(1958) takes place in the Wild West and was directed by Raoul Walsh. Kenneth More co-stars opposite Jayne as (appropriately enough) a fish out of water - or rather, an English gentleman, Jonathan Tibbs, who comes to the frontier town of Fractured Jaw to sell guns produced by his family's arms manufacturing firm. The town has no sheriff as the previous ones have all gotten killed and understandably nobody wants the job. When Tibbs tells the mayor (played by the wonderful Henry Hull) to just appoint somebody without taking no for an answer, the mayor decides to appoint Tibbs himself!
Jayne's character in the film is Kate, the owner of the local saloon/hotel who's a formidable woman and the closest thing the town has to a sheriff. Looking more like Marilyn Monroe here than to herself in the other two films, Kate does take off her very conservative outfit a couple of times to appear in a couple of saucy musical numbers in the saloon.
"Sheriff" is the weakest film in the set, but watching it was still a very amiable way to pass the time.
As for the film transfers, all are at the 2.35:1 Cinemascope ratio and are enhanced for widescreen sets. "Girl Can't Help It" looks fabulous, with a sharp picture and vibrant, deep colors. "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" is equally colorful, but to my eyes the picture looked a bit softer. "The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw" looks reasonably good, though as it was filmed on location outdoors, it can't come close to being as colorful as the other two.
The main extra feature comes on the first disc: the Biography channel program, "Jayne Mansfield: Blonde Ambition." Hers was a tragic story, not just due to her untimely death at the age of 34 but because she ruined her life with drugs and alcohol. The program traces her life from her early days as a brunette to her successes as a blonde on Broadway and in Hollywood and Las Vegas - and then to the days of cheap films and substance abuse, it all coming to an end late one night in a car crash outside New Orleans. (All three people in the front seat were killed, but luckily her three children in the back, including current actress Mariska Hargitay, were not seriously hurt.) Among those interviewed are her first and second husbands Paul Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay, oldest daughter Jayne Marie plus Hugh Hefner talking about Jayne's relationship with Playboy. An interesting tidbit mentioned is that Mansfield was offered the part of Ginger, Tina Louise's character on "Gilligan's Island" - but she turned it down because she considered herself a film actress and television work was apparently beneath her.
The second disc also has a short Fox Movietone newsreel of Mansfield on a visit to Washington, D.C. There are also trailers for the Jayne Mansfield Collection, and while "Girl Can't Help It" and "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" discs each have the trailer for the other film, the trailer for the third film in the set is for that of "Kiss Them For Me" (Mansfield's film with Cary Grant) and not for "The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw." Perhaps the film with Grant was to be in the set - until someone at Fox noticed that it had already been released on DVD! The trailer for "Fractured Jaw" is on the disc for that film, but oddly enough it doesn't contain any scenes from the movie - just some graphics with a soundtrack telling us how very funny this film is (or is supposed to be).
The first two films also have commentary tracks by NYU professor Toby Miller ("Girl Can't Help It") and Dana Polan ("Rock Hunter"). I've only listened to part of the commentary by Mr. Polan, and while it is very academic, he does give some interesting insights of how the film fit in with and commented on American society in the 1950s.
As for the package, it comes in a nice cardboard case with each film in its own standard size DVD case (unlike the Fox Horror Classics collection, which come in slimline cases). A set of 12 black and white lobby cards, measuring 4.5 x 6 inches, are included in a separate envelope - a nice addition
All in all, the Jayne Mansfield Collection is very worth having if you're a fan of the star or of 1950s comedies. The Biography episode is a big plus, too, and one thing I won't soon forget is the way that Mickey Hargitay became very emotional and on the verge of tears when talking about his last phone call with Jayne the night she died. Decades later, it seems clear that he is still very much in love with her. After seeing these films, you may be a little in love with her, too.
More Jayne Mansfield Collection (The Girl Can't Help It / The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw / Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?) reviews:
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Description of Jayne Mansfield Collection (The Girl Can't Help It / The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw / Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?)
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