Film&Fashion Fridays: Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It

It may be because I live in a place like France (where Jerry lewis is sincerily considered a genious) that I learned to love Frank Tashlin's movies. And what a delight they are!

Of course they could be considered trashy, campy and maybe a little ridiculous, but in the end isn't that what makes them so great?

The Girl Can't Help It is no exception; while his collaborations with Jerry Lewis are among the most memorable, this film is certainly exceptional - not only does it have the most surreal colors (and all this while not being in IB Technicolor, which is sincerely minblowing) and the best rock and roll groups but it also features the ultimate bombshell with a simply unreal figure Jane Manesfield.

The story is pretty simple - mob boss hires washed out music producer to make his untalented hot dame into a star. Then we have a series of the best night club scenes, the ones that only exist in the movies with incredibly chic decor and those divine sparkly blue curtains, featuring rising rock and rollers like Little Richard, Gene Vincent and The Chuckles, crazy plot twists, broad 50s humor and of course probably the best line in the history of cinema - Ask my agent!.

No matter your reasons, it's just one of those things you HAVE TO see. Be it for the music, the boobs, the gowns, the suits or simply the colors, it's definitely an incredibly entertaining classic.

The costumes in Tashlin films are always amazing, but this one is particularly special as they had Charles Le Maire, famed costumer who use to work in vaudeville and is also responsible for other 50s classics such as The Seven Year Itch or An Affair to Remember. They also collaborated in another Mansfield showbiz picture,  Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

The DVD that I found also has an extra commentary by John Waters which is insightful and delicious as always (man I love hearing that man talk!) and the colors are as insane as can be. Of course I would LOVE to see a nice print of it, but I don't know when that's gonna happen. You can find the DVD here.