At the time of Sailor Beware, Martin and Lewis were at the peak of their popularity in a career that would ultimately span eleven years and sixteen movies together. They cranked out one hit after another, making That's My Boy (1951), The Stooge (1953), Sailor Beware, and Jumping Jacks (1952) all within one 15-month period. The winning formula, according to Jerry Lewis himself in his 1982 book Jerry Lewis in Person, was always the same: "Keep it zany and get it in the can on time."
Sailor Beware had originally been conceived as a sequel to an earlier Martin and Lewis comedy called At War With the Army (1950) and was to be titled At Sea With the Navy. Paramount, home to all of the Martin and Lewis movies, instead decided to rehash an old plot about a sailor who bets he can get a public kiss from an icy beauty queen. The story had already been filmed three times before at Paramount as The Fleet's In (1942), Lady Be Careful (1936) and True to the Navy (1930). It was a formula that worked, and director Hal Walker knew what the fans wanted.
br> Sexy French actress Corinne Calvet appears as herself, delivering a memorably throaty rendition of the song "Merci Boucoup." Calvet had previously appeared with Martin and Lewis in their 1950 film My Friend Irma Goes West. According to her autobiography Has Corinne Been a Good Girl?: The Intimate Memoirs of a French Actress in Hollywood, Calvet liked Dean Martin, finding him "self-assured and quiet." Jerry Lewis, on the other hand, "was exactly the opposite, nervous and trying to override his shyness by flattering and entertaining everyone around him. He seemed to be afraid of silence, to feel compelled to fill the empty spaces. I was sensitive to his great anxiety, his wanting to be liked by everyone."
Jerry Lewis' manic slapstick almost single-handedly keeps this Navy comedy afloat. Despite their eventual split, however, Lewis was always quick to point out Dean Martin's often overlooked contribution to their success. "Imagine a day at the circus," Lewis writes, "¿There at the center ring, is the flyer winging his way high up on a trapeze while thousands watch his every move, not realizing that if it weren't for the catcher below, the flyer would be nothing. And Dean was my catcher¿the greatest straight man in the history of show business."
Sailor Beware is Martin and Lewis at their zany best. Be sure to watch for future Rebel Without a Cause (1955) star James Dean during the boxing match sequence in the opponent's corner. Movie star Betty Hutton also appears in a cameo as Dean Martin's home town girlfriend "Hetty Button."
Producer: Hal B. Wallis
Director: Hal Walker
Screenplay: Kenyon Nicholson (play), Charles Robinson (play), Elwood Ullman, James B. Allardice, Martin Rackin
Cinematography: Daniel L. Fapp
Film Editing: Warren Low
Art Direction: Henry Bumstead, Hal Pereira
Music: Mack David, Jerry Livingston, Leigh Harline, Joseph J. Lilley
Cast: Dean Martin (Al Crowthers), Jerry Lewis (Melvin Jones), Marion Marshall (Hilda Jones), Robert Strauss (Lardoski), Leif Erickson (Cmdr. Lane), Don Wilson (Mr. Chubby).
BW-108m.
by Andrea Passafiume
