
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) by Frank Tashlin
Friday, December 17, 1982, 8:00 pm
Hollywood Burlesque: Two Classic Comedies
Films by directors Preston Sturges and Frank Tashlin spoofing American consumerism. Christmas in July (1940) by Sturges, 67 min., with Dick Powell and Ellen Drew: A modern fairy tale about a lowly executive who thinks of a million dollar jingle. Filled with Sturges’ (Sullivan’s Travels, The Lady Eve, etc.) characteristic bitter irony and witty dialogue. Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) by Tashlin, 105 min., cinemascope color, with Tony Randall and Jayne Mansfield: A frenetically slapstick portrait of Madison Avenue firms, as filtered through Tashlin’s luridly colorful, cartoon-like sense of unreality.