And those movies weren't worth ripping off anyway! Jack E. Leonard, a comic I know very little about other than a few movie appearances, plays twin buffoons in this paradise set farce that not only rips off Frankie/Annette, but the spy films of the movies of the time as well. Leonard isn't actually all that funny, but his ego got him two leading ladies in this movie-Jayne Mansfield and in her first major film role, Phyllis Diller.
"Teenagers!", Diller exclaimed. "Yechhhh!" while Miss Diller always does provide some laughs, they come few and far between. This is actually a musical, and thanks to a group called The Wild Ones, some decent modern music is provided. That prevents me from giving this a one star, as the songs that the adults sing are absolutely wretched. One of the characters Leonard sings an insult song to Diller, and later he dances to do the turtle with the teenagers, looking absolutely ridiculous. The only other live action movie I have memories of him in is the Warner Brothers musical 3 sailors and a girl where his personality got in the way and was entirely over the top, making him more obnoxious and funny. He turns down the obnoxiousness here, but not really all that much. Attempts to imitate Cagney, Bogart and EGR are ghastly.
Mansfield by this time was a parody of the blonde bombshell image she had in the 1950s, and while the girl can't help it, she's far from her glory days. Veteran actor Brian Donlevy is wasted in what is basically an unnecessary cameo, and the teenage actors are a far cry in the talent area that Frankie and Annette, well certainly not good actors, at least had in likability.
To make matters ridiculous even more, the spotlight simply surrounds I suppose that function of youth in this paradise, and the way Phyllis is made up, it would take more than a sip of that water to bring back the bloom which is far off her rose. Bad editing is also very apparent in the one musical number she is in where the camera keeps flashing on her angry man servant, making the flow of the number very awkward to watch. The situations just get more outlandish and off the wall, and in an attempt to be mod in a mid $0.60, it just ends up looking much sillier then funny.
There is even a reference to Frankie and Annette, and the leading team character makes an obscure reference to a 1920's musical when he says no no Annette at which sounds strange you like No No Nanette. Available easily because of its public domain status, it seems like perhaps the copyright owners decided they wanted no part of it and why waste good money in renewing what you know was practically a bomb.
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