Jerry Lewis, you either love him or hate him. As a kid growing up i loved any kind of slapstick and zany humour and Jerry Lewis made me laugh as much as L & H. I think he's one of the world's most unique comedians and certainly one of the most successful of all time. He practically had full command during his peak at the Paramount studios, his films were often box office top earners. Unfortunatly there isnt that many on Super 8, There were a couple of Columbia 400 footers, the big mouth, (reviewed on here earlier in the year), three on couch and dont raise the bridge lower the river.
Feature wise there is A visit to a small planet, (which i am looking out for) and this one, Don't give up the ship, slightly abridged 80 minute feature,originally on 5 x 400ft which fits onto two full 800ft Elmo spools, the quality is outstanding, excellent b/w print with pin sharp image and 1st class sound, typical of American prints at the time. This print is virtually mark free.
Produced by Hal B Wallis here is the plot with the help of wiki
Following World War II, an entire destroyer escort, the U.S.S. Kornblatt, has mysteriously gone missing. Lieutenant John Paul Steckler VII (Jerry Lewis), the last of a long line of good-natured but goofing-up US Navy officers, was tasked with guiding the Kornblatt to its decommission, but somehow the ship disappeared on its home journey without a trace. Now, with a $4 billion appropriation at stake, Congressman Mandeville refuses to approve the funds until the Kornblatt is recovered; and Steckler's former superior, Vice Admiral Bludde (Robert Middleton), who has been trying to sugar coat this embarrassing incidence, has no other choice but to comply.
Just as he is ready to embark on his honeymoon with his freshly married wife Prudence (Diana Spencer), Steckler is tracked down by Navy personnel and brought to the Pentagon, where he is charged with treason and malevolent misappropriation of government property. Though he can convince the Admiralty of his basic innocence, he is nevertheless charged with finding the Kornblatt within the next ten days, thus upsetting both his wife and his honeymoon plans. Since he is at a loss to explain the whereabouts of the ship, Steckler is teamed up with Naval Intelligence operative Ensign Benson, who happens to be an attractive woman (Dina Merrill).
Benson employs a relaxing therapy to coax Steckler's memory, succeeding with much effort. In a flashback it is told that on the day hostilities in the Pacific were finally ended, the Kornblatt was ordered to return to Pearl Harbour for decommission of the crew members with sufficient discharge points. Steckler, assisted by Ensign Stan Wychinski and the remaining crew attempted to get the Kornblatt back to the mainland, but Steckler got the ship stuck on a reef near an island occupied by a garrison of still-intrenched Japanese soldiers. Captured by those soldiers while exploring, Steckler was imprisoned for a night before his impending execution, just for the Japanese commander, Colonel Takahashi to learn that the war really was over. By the time of Steckler's release and the garrison's surrender to him, however, the Kornblatt and her crew, believing him dead, had already departed.
With Wychinski being the only viable lead, Steckler and Benson track him down to Miami, Florida, where he works as a professional wrestler. From him they learn that he has turned the Kornblatt over as instructed, but being in the middle of a match, he loses the memory of the responsible official's name when his opponent whacks him on the head. Grounded by a hurricane, and unwilling to spend anymore time separated from Prudence, Steckler takes a train back to Washington, where he is forced to share a compartment with Benson. In the meantime, Wychinsky, who finally remembers what happened to the Kornblatt, has followed Steckler back to Washington and encounters Prudence, and the two proceed to the hearing which is progressing very badly for Steckler and Bludde. Given a reprieve of 48 hours, Steckler and Wychinsky proceed to a spot in the ocean where the wreck of the Kornblatt lies following her last use as a target dummy. After a harrowing dive and struggle with nitrogen narcosis and a hungry kraken, they recover a bell from the Kornblatt, thus confirming its fate, and back at the inquiry Mandeville is revealed as the man who had unwittingly assigned the Kornblatt for target practice, ignoring red tape. Finally rehabilitated, Steckler manages to secure a significantly higher appropriation for the Navy, and is happily reunited with Prudence.


BTW, another feature on super 8 is The sad sack but this is one that i wasn't too fond of.

That looks great. Only seen one or two films with him

if only the nutty professor was on 8, would love a 16mm copy but hard to find one with good colour i suspect.

Great screenshots. Sounds like a great film! Thanks for the detailed review! Never heard about it, but I am sure more interested in this than on the new films made today. I think I am born in the wrong decade :-)

Elvind, i love the Jerry Lewis films. If you like the sort of scilly humour like i do then its worth taking a look on line and checking his films especially from around 1957/8 to 1970, some of these are an blast. (in my opinion of course)

Looks a very good print; I like 'Who's minding the Store'.