Product Description

A hilarious laugh-a-minute comedy starring the legendary comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. When Honey Talk Nelson s (Dean Martin) gambling debts start to mount, he enlists his veterinarian cousin Virgil (Jerry Lewis) to help him fix a race. Along the way, the boys find plenty of time for gags, music and for Honey Talk, a romance with the gorgeous Phyllis (Marjie Millar). Features their now classic take on Cyrano de Bergerac!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35727 in DVD
• Brand: LEGEND FILMS
• Released on: 2008-07-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 5.00 pounds
• Running time: 100 minutes

Features

• A hilarious laugh-a-minute comedy starring the legendary comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. When "Honey Talk" Nelson's (Dean Martin) gambling debts start to mount, he enlists his veterinarian cousin Virgil (Jerry Lewis) to help him fix a race. Along the way, the boys find plenty of time for gags, music and for "Honey Talk," a romance with the gorgeous Phyllis (Marjie M

Review
[...] By 1953, the popular comedic/musical pairing of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis had already turned out ten popular black-and-white comedies juxtaposing the former s smooth crooning persona with the latter s slapstick, baby-voiced antics. Though its script stays mostly within the parameters of these films, Money From Home upped the ante by adding no less than three audience-baiting novelties: three-track stereo sound (a tactic popularized by 20th Century-Fox), three-strip Technicolor, and 3-D!

Fortunately the final product was solid enough on its own terms to justify this window dressing, and even without Jerry Lewis and galloping horses pouncing out of the screen and into audiences laps via the miracle of three-dimensional photography, their antics fare just as well on the small screen at home. The story begins with perpetual gambler Honey Talk Nelson (Martin) running afoul of loan sharks and other unseemly criminal elements, driving him to concoct a quick-rich scheme to talk his cousin Virgil (Lewis), a veterinary assistant in Maryland, into helping him fix a horse race involving a steed named My Sheba. However, comedic complications ensue when Nelson falls for the horse s pretty owner, Phyllis (Marjie Millar), and Virgil is distracted by animal lover Dr. Claypool (TV regular Pat Crowley). Romantic and criminal mayhem escalates even further when tough gangster Jumbo Schneider (character actor Sheldon Leonard) and his goons turn up gunning for Nelson.

Though no one will ever tag this film as a top-tier masterpiece, the comedy team s fans have long had affection for this film, and with good reason. Even those put off by Lewis mannerisms during this period should be won over by his deft and oddly heart-rending musical adieu to his animal patients, while the DVD sleeve s endorsement of their now classic take on Cyrano de Bergerac (with Lewis pantomiming to Martin s I Only Have Eyes for You, at least before a feisty dog and channel-switching radio get involved) is an inventive, bravura sequence worth watching at least twice. Aside from a fleeting bit of paddleball, director George Marshall (The Ghost Breakers) takes little advantage of the 3-D format, instead focusing on tried-and-true comic elements like Jerry in Arabic female drag and lots of cute, camera-friendly animals (including a monkey and a two show-stopping, street-crossing canines), and a truly odd climactic punchline that predates Some Like It Hot by several years.

Though Paramount released twelve of the Martin/Lewis films in a pair of recommended box sets in 2006, Money from Home was inexplicably left out, leaving collectors clutching their old VHS tapes from television broadcasts for comfort. When Paramount licensed out a slice of its catalog titles to Legend Films, this title was chosen as one of the first out of the gate along with a handful of other comedy titles like Papa s Delicate Condition and Rhubarb. The DVD release contains the main feature only (well, along with scene selections), but fortunately the new transfer should be enough of an incentive. [...] --Nathaniel Thompson of Turner Classic Movies Online (TCM.com)

Customer Reviews

Their First Film in Color
This is the first Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis film to be released in color. Additionally, upon the original release, it was 3D.

The film takes place in the 1920s and revolves around the racetrack (horse racing, that is). These sorts of films were popular in the 1940s and 50s and Martin and Lewis were trend setters. Like many of their previous and forthcoming works, this movie is not only loaded with humor, but music and song as well.

This marks the release of fifteen out of sixteen Martin & Lewis films on DVD. The last one we're waiting for is "Three Ring Circus". I also hope more Jerry Lewis titles are on the way, we still need: "Visit to a Small Planet", "Who's Minding the Store?", "Rock-a-Bye Baby", "Hardly Working", "Cracking Up", "Which Way to the Front", and others.

I am happy to report the quality of this DVD is excellent and licensed through Paramount.

Amusing but not their best
For reasons unknown (to me), Paramount's DEAN MARTIN & JERRY LEWIS COLLECTION VOLUME TWO does not include MONEY FROM HOME and 3 RING CIRCUS. Both films are among the team's lesser efforts, but it still would have been nice if they had been a part of this set. Now MONEY FROM HOME has been released as a separate disc, as per Legend Films' licensing deal with Paramount. This is good news for M&L diehards, who will want to add this title to their collection.

Originally photographed in 3-D, MONEY FROM HOME (1953), the team's first film in color, places suave Dino and screwball Jerry in the 1920s world of horseracing, Prohibition, and gangsters. While several set-pieces garner chuckles and smiles, they fail to deliver the sort of huge belly-laughs found in other Martin & Lewis pictures. One major exception is a sequence in which Jerry frantically lip-synchs to Dean's rendition of "I Only Have Eyes For You." It's a brilliant bit of pantomime. If only more passages had been up to this level.

MONEY FROM HOME is a pleasant if forgettable trifle, and if you`re already a Martin & Lewis addict, then you`ll enjoy this outing much more than an average viewer will. If the sight of Jerry masquerading as a harem girl sends you into uncontrollable hysterics, then this is a movie tailor-made for your tastes.

Kids will probably get a big kick out of this film, so if you're judging this entry as family-friendly fare, you may rate it higher than I do. However, the aforementioned MARTIN & LEWIS COLLECTION VOLUME TWO -- which contains LIVING IT UP, YOU'RE NEVER TOO YOUNG, ARTISTS AND MODELS, PARDNERS, and HOLLYWOOD OR BUST -- provides superior examples of Dean and Jerry's brand of comedy and song.

Technically speaking, this DVD transfer is first-rate, with breathtaking color values. Paramount made some of the most visually stunning Technicolor movies of the 1950s, and this one is no exception. But there are no extras. Not even a measly theatrical trailer. If they didn't have one for MONEY FROM HOME, you'd think they would have included other Martin & Lewis trailers instead. (A trivial note: The back cover includes a shot of Dean and Jerry with Donna Reed from THE CADDY. Is there a shortage of MONEY FROM HOME photos?)

So now that MONEY FROM HOME has been released, where is 3 RING CIRCUS? I think it`s the weakest of the 16 feature films Dean and Jerry made together, but I would still like to see it on DVD.

Been waiting a long time!
I have been waiting a very long time for this movie to come out. I actually called Paramount Studios about 2 1/2 to 3 years ago to ask them if it would ever be out on dvd. The gentleman told me that around June of I think '06 it would be packaged with some other movies from Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis so to watch for it. It was advertised just as he said so my husband bought the group for me for Christmas. The package was miss-marked with the right title but wrong movie. I kept the pack anyway because I love Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movies. I just kept waiting and watching. I decided to check recently and there it was on Amazon in a single dvd. I knew Amazon would come through for me. I got the movie and loved it just as much as when I first saw it. My 13 year old loves it too. Very funny. So happy. See ya.