Le kid en kimono

"The Geisha Boy" is one of Jerry Lewis' better films. This is because the film is rather sweet without being maudlin or saccharine. It also places more emphasis on the story as opposed to laughs...though it has a decent number of laughs as well--with the sort of hit or miss laughs you expect from such a movie.

When the film begins, Gilbert Wooley (Lewis) is flying along with his rabbit, Harry, on an Air Force plane bound for a USO tour of Japan. However, along the way, Gilbert (not unexpectedly) makes a total nuisance of himself. It ultimately results in him ripping the dress off an obnoxious but famous actress--and he is to be punished by being sent on a tour of the front lines in Korea. But during his bumbling, he impresses a little Japanese boy who apparently has been depressed. The boy instantly bonds with Gilbert and now there is a problem...how can Gilbert leave Japan following his Korean tour? After all, the kid sees him as his new step-father!

The film has a lot of goofy laughs but at heart is appears to actually be a re-working of the famous Chaplin film, "The Kid", and goes for those same sorts of heartwarming scenes between Jerry and the boy...and these work very well. I also think the film works well because it was neither written nor directed by Lewis and so the pacing was a bit better than some of his later films. Overall, a delightful film.