Game #430 - The Delicate Delinquent

[Jim E]

Game version 1
One picture from one movie:

Rule 1:
NO IMAGE HOSTING ON EXTERNAL SERVERS.
Images for the games need to be ATTACHED to the post, and thus uploaded to our server.

Rule 2:
TWO GUESSES PER PERSON PER POSTED PICTURE!!! Those two guesses are not allowed to be in the same post, NOR in a consecutive post. I.e. you can post one guess, then have to wait for someone else to guess: your second guess is not allowed to be immediately following your first guess.

Rule 3:
The WINNER of the game can start a new game IN A NEW THREAD.
NO ONE ELSE (unless yielded so by the winner).

Rule 4:
Once there's a winner, PLEASE post the correct name into the thread (spelled correctly, and capitalized correctly, and not in italics or bold face.)

Rule 5:
The correct title format is: "Game" / space / "#" / number.
Example: " Game #12" (without the ")
(no space between the # sign and the number!)

Rule 6:
The film selected should be one that has had an international, theatrical release.
I.e. a made-for-TV movie only shown in the USA would hardly be a fair entry, as
we have international players also.

Rule 7:
These complete rules (1 to 7) have to be copy & pasted into each new game's first post.

With this movie, it was tricky to get frames that didn't give away too much. But I'll give you one now, then another in a couple of hours, then more tomorrow.

A00032.jpg

[Jim E]

And I'll bet I know what the first guess will be!

[Jim E]

Morning has broken, etc., so here's the first of the day, plus a clue.

This movie was a "first" for the lead actor.

A00038.jpg

[Jim E]

Coincidentally, this film has a deliberate connection to a Greek myth, too.

[Jim E]

Okay......

This isn't a musical. However, the lead actor, a non-singer, sings a song that was sung by Fed Astaire in another movie which was a hugely-successful musical.

A00052.jpg

[AJUK]

Village of the dammed.

[Jim E]

Well, I'll be....

No, it's not VOTD.

[Jim E]

Last one for the day. And a clue. A unique type of musical instrument is briefly seen and used in the film.

A00028.jpg

(ASIDE: This is why I love black and white movies!!This same scene in colour would be just a plain, grubby alley. In black and white, it looks sinister, mysterious, and even a bit intriguing.)

[Jim E]

"Sinister, mysterious, and intriguing" is NOT a clue, btw.

[Jim E]

Oh, all right then! One more clue...

The movie attempts to address an emerging social problem of the era in which it was made.

And on further searching, I find that the lead IS regarded as a singer... (could have fooled me, but there you go...)

[Jim E]

Looking for more clues that would be traceable, I just found out that the lead was often directed by a former Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoon director. What does that tell you?

Here's another frame that doesn't tell you much, but it's such a striking example of lighting for a B/W shot, I wanted y'all to see it.

It's the opening scene, btw.

A00001.jpg

[Janke]

The Delicate Delinquent ?

[Jim E]

"The Delicate Delinquent" it is!

A favourite boyhood movie of mine, even though I'm not a Jerry Lewis fan nowadays.

It was Jerry Lewis's first movie without Dean Martin.

His character's surname is Pythias, and Darren McGavin's character's surname is Damon... (Greek story of Damon and Pythias)

Jerry Lewis sang "By Myself", which was sung by Fred Astaire in "The Band Wagon".

A Theremin is played by an eccentric character in the film.

The movie deals with juvenile delinquency, just becoming a problem in the 50s.

He was frequently directed by Frank Tashlin, a Warner Brothers animator and cartoon director.

(And I swear, I didn't know that before! No favouritism here! )

Well done, Janke!

.

[Janke]

The Looney Tune clue did it for me - already knowing that Tashlin directed many live action movies, and the fact that he directed Lewis made it easy to pick the right movie - "police academy" was the key word in this combination. (Alone, it just gave too many hits due to some miserable comedies... )

I already have a new game prepared - it will be up in a moment!

[Jim E]

Ahh! I was going to ask you how you picked it.

So, all my other clues didn't really help much?

Hmm, maybe I need to take my own advice, and use more clues that actually hint at the answer. That's what clues are supposed to do.

Lewis did have some awful "comedies", that's for sure. But I still like his "The Nutty Professor". Much better than the Eddie Murphy version, I reckon.