The Disorderly Orderly

Mr Pinky enjoyed The Disorderly Orderly so much he frequently found himself breaking out into hearty guffaws of laughter as comic genius Jerry Lewis flung himself into one ridiculous situation after another.

Lewis plays his usual half man-half adolescent character in this film (he’s about 38 years of age in this film, but could pass for someone in his early twenties).

You enjoy the original character he’s created more than the dialogue he’s been given. Obviously he’s mastered a range of highly contorted and animated facial expressions over the years as a performer.

One of the great delights of this film is the direction from Frank Tashin (he also co-wrote the script). Every frame is utterly pristine.

The scenes at the hospital, with patients recuperating on reclining lounges outside, are shot to make it look like some kind of arcadia.

This meticulous design and art direction are then well used as a backdrop for all of the chaotic goings on by Jerry Lewis’s character, Jerome Littlefield.

In one scene a patient wrapped up completely, like an Egyptian dummy, falls over and then rolls down various hills, knocking all and sundry over until the whole plaster cast dummy knocks against a tree and splits into pieces. Strangely enough, the patient has now gone missing.
The supporting cast is a hoot too. Glenda Farrell as Dr. Jean Howard is funny without even trying. And Kathleen Freeman as the long suffering Nurse Higgins is hilarious.

Mr Pinky’s favourite scene is when a series of shopping trolleys come loose and start torpedoing huge neatly stacked pyramids of canned food. Its like a war scene, with consumer durables exploding everywhere.

Oh, and not forgetting the hospital head, Mr Tuffington’s rather memorable end.
For comedy fans, Mr Pinky says this is a must see.