My Friend Irma (1949)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

George Marshall

Writers:

Cy Howard (screenplay) and
Parke Levy (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 October 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

The Riotous Gal of Radio...NOW FUNNIER on the SCREEN!

Plot:

Prototype dumb blonde Irma and her slacker, wheeler-dealer boyfriend Al interfere in the love life of Irma's level-headed room mate Jane.

Plot Keywords:

Boss | Manager | Blonde | Dumb Blonde | Show Business

Cast

John Lund	...	Al
Marie Wilson	...	Irma Peterson
Diana Lynn	...	Jane Stacy
Don DeFore	...	Richard Rhinelander III
Dean Martin	...	Steve Laird
Jerry Lewis	...	Seymour
Hans Conried	...	Professor Kropotkin
Kathryn Givney	...	Mrs. Rhinelander
Percy Helton	...	Mr. Z. Clyde
Gloria Gordon	...	Mrs. O'Reilly, the Landlady
Ernö Verebes	...	Mr. Ubang, Headwaiter, Gypsy Tea Room / Mr. Ubang's Brother (as Erno Verebes)
Margaret Field	...	Alice, Rhinelander's Secretary

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #13726) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Park Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Alfred Newman's ubiquitous theme "Street Scene", closely associated with every New York-themed film produced at Fox during his tenure as musical director at that studio, turns up here in the opening of this Paramount film and its sequel "My Friend Irma Goes West."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Irma (Marie Wilson) falls down the hole in the street in the first scene of the movie, a pair of hands can be seen catching her.

Quotes:

Al: Your time will come, son. I'll save you for a rainy day. Got to hold back a little. Don't want to push too much.
Seymour: Rainy day? I got news for you. I get hungry in clear weather!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "My Three Sons: My Friend Ernie (#4.7)" (1963)

Soundtrack:

Here's to Love

.....and introducing Martin & Lewis.

Solid if unspectacular movie that is of interest mainly for being the debut of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. As a beginning piece for the duos body of work it does set something of a standard, a kind of benchmark niche as it were, Martin sings and gets to woo the sexy lady whilst Jerry clowns around and gets the laughs, not that there are too many laughs to be had here because there isn't that many if one is honest. Yet the film still has a 40s charm with it's array of interesting characters that never stretch to annoying limits, performances are steady from all involved, and as a romantic comedy it is well worth a watch, and not least because it has a very interesting segment about who should be the bigger name of the two out of Masrtin & Lewis........now that one makes for quite a story some way down the line wink wink. 5/10 and worth a watch on its own merit for fans of cheeky charm 40s rom-coms, and of course for Martin/Lewis completists like me.