Hello, my name's Justin the Clue, and I'm here today with Will Sloan.

And you're listening to The Important Cinema Club. And today we're talking about Frank Tashlin.

That's right. And for this episode, we are not saying Chaplin-esque. We are saying Tashlin-esque.

And what does that entail? Colorful,

probably in Cinemascope, rapid-fire gags, perhaps even a little bit of social deconstructive

satire? So Frank Tashlin is a name that is really only known by hardened cinefiles, but to

hardened cinephiles, he represents an entire ethos, an entire

style, an entire worldview. He is a director that was very much taken by the French critics

that were popping up around the new wave as kind of a symbol for theuteur, especially when it came to something as

disreputable as a comedy. That's right. In the 1950s and 1960s, those same French critics who

venerated directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Wells, Howard Hawks, you've probably heard of those

people, but you may not have heard of Frank Tashlin

because they venerated him, and he is a cult figure kind of within a cult. And what's interesting

about him is he doesn't really have any breakout in this modern age comedy. Like, no one's

like, ah, yes, the girl can't help it. Every mom and dad knows that movie.

Although it's coming to the Criterion Collection this week, which feels very late. You would

think that would be one that they would have grabbed early on, but I'm glad better late than

never. But there are a number of reasons why he's one of the lesser known of those

French show tour guys. One is because his career was

spent mostly directing comedies that were defined by the star comedians. Ah, yes, everybody loves Danny Kay.

Well, Danny Kay, but he's most known, probably still best known for having been the director

who taught Jerry Lewis everything he knew. And some would say

...