‘The Nutty Professor: 50th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition’ Blu-ray Review

I’ve always found it funny how much growing up on cable television failed me for the work I’d do later in life covering films. I didn’t grow up in a poor home; we had HBO usually about half of the year, and the full cable package year-round, but I’m sure any child of the ’80’s and ’90’s can attest to how channels in those days would show the same rotation of films ad nauseam. When there wasn’t a block of Saved by the Bell on, there was a fairly-recent comedy hit being played to death and back again. I remember HBO playing Robin Hood: Men in Tights damn near daily, and that isn’t to fault them, either, as I’d still watch Mel Brooks’ most underrated film daily if I could. Long story short, there was so much classic cinema, and I mean classic, that I’d not delved into by the time I was out of high school. Playing catch-up is a never-ending process, which to this day I’ll shamefully admit there are flicks considered all time greats or remarkable classics that I’ve yet to see a single frame of.

The Movie Itself

Until this 50th anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition of The Nutty Professor, well, Jerry Lewis’ most iconic role was amongst the list of never-dos. Sure, I’d seen the two Eddie Murphy remakes, and more than my share of Jekyll and Hyde rehashes, but not what may be the most iconic iteration of the story. It wasn’t something in the forefront of my mind, as I delved deeper into genres more my liking. Fact is, aside from the annual telethon, I was about as ignorant of the quality of Lewis’ films as could be. What I discovered here was most certainly a treat (and in Warner’s UCE fashion, this treat kept on giving and giving, in terms of fixing my ignorance on Lewis’ career. See the extras portion of this review for more on that…).

By now, most know the basic premise of the story. Hyper-intelligent professor named Julius Kelp (Lewis) is awkward, a disaster-in-the-making at any moment in time. He’s bullied, unhappy, and simply meek. Noticing the acceptance of the more jocular types on campus, his attempts to improve his physique, but the old-fashioned ways fail (miserably or hilariously, depending on one’s point of view), to the point that Kelp decides to use his biggest muscle to solve his lingering problem. One experimental formula later, Kelp is everything he wants to be: he’s smooth, handsome, confident, masculine, an all out stud. The thing is, he isn’t Kelp anymore. The pseudonym Buddy Love, a being of pure repressed Id, gets his way, but only for so long before reverting back to Kelp. With Kelp’s innocent infatuation Stella Purdy (Stella Stevens) finally noticing him, will she come to love Kelp, or does she only have eyes for Love?

The Nutty Professor is a classic for so many reasons, I’m sure by the time I’m done praising and parading the film here, I’ll have missed about half of them. This is more than just a film with a ton of heart and a positive message. It’s more than just self-realization. A virtual one-man show, The Nutty Professor has less than a handful of actual realized characters beyond the titular role: Stevens’ Purdy, the driving force, the goal. Dr. Mortimer Warfield (Del Moore), the dean of the school, whose down-talking represents all of Kelp’s experiences his whole life, overpowered, over-willed. That’s. It. Sure, there are a couple more cast members with actual names rather than just generic descriptions as their billing, but fact of the matter, this is Lewis’ vehicle. This is a film encapsulated around the experience of one man, free from virtually any scene not featuring the main character, an idea all but impossible in modern cinema. And it works.

With one man playing two polar opposite roles, this film doesn’t need a diverse cast. With audiences of the day flocking to see more works of one man, there really wasn’t much need to elaborate the film any more. One could argue ego on behalf of Lewis (who wrote and directed the film), but what audiences wanted, they got, and they got it in spades. Kelp is subconsciously engrained in our culture, an idealistic representation of a pure nerd, buck toothed, awkward voiced, with social anxiety galore and social skills kaput. But he’s a pure man, decent and not cruel, no matter how derivative the characters written around him may be.

The tonal differences between Kelp and Love are obviously what makes the film. It’s almost silly escapist fantasy in its simplicity, but it’s pulled off in a manner that we can understand where the Love character comes from. Like Tyler Durden to his Narrator in Fight Club, he’s everything he wants to be. Every negative personality aspect, fixed. Every unfortunate physical characteristic, reversed. An alpha male, rather than tonight’s dinner. And while Warfield represents authority, Love represents the film’s villain (though not as blatantly as in the remake). His behavior towards the woman Kelp treats so kindly (albeit due to daydreaming about the girl so much as to not make advances…) is damn near reprehensible. His egocentric nature taking over, as if it were Kelp’s subconscious finally screaming that it’s his turn after so many years repressed, to run rampant on anything, everything, and everyone. And it all works because of Lewis’ layered performance, where we believe these are two sides of the same coin.

It’s hard to argue that The Nutty Professor isn’t cliche…if anything, it’s where some of the cliches were born. It’s fun watching the sets, like Kelp’s classroom and lab, in their candy-coated, mad-science gone technicolor glory. It’s fun seeing a performance (one that Lewis admits was born from an actual conversation with a fan) so outright geeky turn tail and bust out blues music with note dragging so very much in league with the likes of the great Lou Reed. It’s fun to see the elaborate gag set-ups, entire scenes dedicated to one big payoff, regardless of how they fit the film’s narrative. This is pure popcorn entertainment, a thinking man’s film disguised as a laffer. The Nutty Professor is a brilliant film in that regard, playing numerous genres so cleverly, so slyly, changing themes and tones while still leading the audience on that this is a pure comedy and nothing more. Misdirection at its greatest, yet still comical enough to be considered a comedy, this film alone is reason enough to call Lewis an all-time legend.

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The Presentation

Paramount titles that didn’t find release prior to the catalog acquisition by Warner Bros have not exactly been created equal, much like the former Miramax titles put out by Lionsgate/Echo Bridge/Mill Creek, or the Sony titles handled by Image. Often times, the studios putting out content from another company’s library have their hands tied, and because of that, in extreme cases we’ve seen releases in the wrong aspect ratio, off television masters, and at times just worn down, ugly, dirty, nasty masters finding their way to a high def format. Thankfully, Paramount took a bit more pride than some studios, and even more thankfully, one of the gems of their classic comedy catalog has proven to be among their better maintained titles. That isn’t to say The Nutty Professor’s Blu-ray looks perfect; let’s just say that expectations will be fairly easily surpassed, though limitations and some tinkering keep this from being a benchmark release.

Presented in 1080p via an AVC MPEG-4 encode (in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio), The Nutty Professor feels aged, but in one of those oddly good ways. The film has a mad science-meets-family fair aesthetic, what with the ridiculously large sampling of test tubes filled with varying sharp colors of fluid, long twisted tubes and bubbling beakers, and the entire science-aspect of the film looks utterly superb. In fact, these bold, brazen colors serve as the highlight of this disc. Textures are also for the most part a darned solid aspect, with the vast majority looking very lifelike (only a handful of articles of clothing have an unnatural fuzz, almost as though oversaturated). Black levels aren’t seen all that often in this colorful film, but when Buddy Love’s greased back black hair enters the mix, well, let’s just say they’re right on point. The nitpicks on this release are all based on possible tinkering. The DNR level on this disc isn’t abhorrent by any means, but there are more than a handful of times when unnatural smoothing and unusual grain behavior catch the eye. At times, an exposed arm or mid-distance shot of a face will look just too darned smooth and feature-free for shots at a time. This effect doesn’t happen often on the disc, so it’s hard to be too harsh about it. There is also some mild edge ringing going on, particularly noticeable in the first act of the film.

All in all, Warner’s UCE release of The Nutty Professor earns the title in terms of visual performance. It’s not top tier, but it’s respectable and decent.

The audio for The Nutty Professor isn’t as easy to pinpoint and analyze as the video, what with the limited legacy options (the default being a matrixed DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that is more a stereo spread than anything), but the film really picks up in the second and third acts (no coincidence them being the Buddy Love scenes), to the point that the audio does actually raise eyebrows and catch one’s attention. Dynamics are solid, spoken word perfectly understandable, the two most important aspects are neither spectacular nor gruesome. What really is surprising on this track is the random moments of heft. The score sometimes can pack a good thump, though not so much as to require a volume level adjustment, while the hangover gag scene really can hit pretty hard for a film with such a reserved soundscape. This track can be actually quite surprising, in a good way, though it has no chance of competing against films of another era. Purists won’t be offended by this track, as it doesn’t unnaturally draw the ear at any moment.

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Extra Features

Trinkets and Swag- The 50th anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition release of The Nutty Professor includes a signed director’s letter, a 96 page book replica, a 40 page script book, and a 48 page storyboard book, along with the 5 discs all housed in the larger Warner UCE-style box.

  • Cinderfella DVD – An OOP (out-of-print) DVD, originally distributed by Paramount Pictures (who signed over catalog distribution to Warner Bros in recent years). With this title averaging around the $20 price point for its standalone release, it’s hard to be displeased with a rarer inclusion of a not-quite related but still appreciated movie.
  • The Errand Boy DVD – See above. The Errand Boy is also OOP, and by its lonesome also fetches a pretty penny. Let’s just say this box set includes actually viable, if not somewhat valuable, goods, rather than the useless silliness that fills some of the other large box sets.
  • The Nutty Professor DVD- This one isn’t so much OOP, but hey, combo pack!
  • Phoney Phone Calls CD – ANOTHER OOP goody, this one a compact disc (also known as Jerry Lewis: Phoney Phone Calls 1959-1972), with a similar value to the two DVD discs.
  • Audio Commentary – With Jerry Lewis and Steve Lawrence. Recorded just about around the 40th anniversary (it’s mentioned about fifteen minutes into this track), there are moments where the participants can’t help but watch the film, but this is actually a really decent track. There’s loads and loads of information, about the film, about how Lewis made films, lots of anecdotes about cast members and shooting scenes, basically, aside from some off-tangents and a few none-too-long gaps where the two get caught up in watching the film, this is a great track. Also, the meaning of “Jennifer” doesn’t get revealed. Commentary mistake all too common: ask to bring something up later, then get distracted and have a tease with no payoff.
  • Behind the Scenes (HD) – A three part feature, playable individually or as a whole. The first (Jerry Lewis: No Apologies, 20 min, 56 sec) feels like a somewhat randomly cobbled together set of interviews and solo performance retrospective clips. It isn’t bad, but it does lack direction. The second (The Nutty Professor: Perfecting the Formula, 15 min, 46 sec) starts naturally on the inspiration for the film, and not just the classic Jekyll/Hyde tale, rather a real-life mockery, and rolls through various aspects of production. Lastly, the third feature (Jerry Lewis at Work, 29 min, 59 sec) is more a look at Lewis’ work in other films, framing the evolution of performer and character in his various guises.
  • Deleted Scenes (SD, 6 min, 48 sec) – 5 axed scenes, with optional Play All capability. A very curious mix of deletions, to be sure, with a wide-range of themes and characters. Considering the scope some take, their exclusion may not be that much of a bad thing.
  • Promos (SD, 4 min, 16 sec) – A Play All option is given, or one can individually play Jerry and Stella promos two at a time. In character, out of character, it’s an interesting mix.
  • Bloopers (SD, 13 min, 29 sec) – Fourteen flubs, playable individually (don’t see why anyone would) or in Play All mode. These don’t get raunchy, but they can be a bit more “blue” than what’s in the film.
  • Jerry at Movieland Wax Museum (with Commentary by Son Chris Lewis) (SD, 0 min, 45 sec) – Lewis’s son talks over a silent clip from the early ’70’s commemorating a wax statue of the character.
  • Test Footage (SD) – Two screen tests, no play all option. First up is Lewis’ Kelp character (0 min, 46 sec), then Del Moore’s Dr. Warfield character (1 min, 47 sec). Really, really not enough to get a feel for anything.
  • Other Footage: Kelp Calls His Father (SD, 3 min, 5 sec) – An odd black and white scene.
  • Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2 min, 13 sec) – An oddity, most definitely aged. There are times when this trailer teases this as some kind of horror film, and at all times seems to be giving advice to theater owners and projectionists. Awkward, not funny nor telling of even what genre the film is.

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Final Thoughts

It’s somewhat hard to argue the value in the Ultimate Collector’s Edition (50th anniversary release) of The Nutty Professor. A good looking Blu-ray for a classic film, the first Jerry Lewis (still kicking at 88!) directed film to find its way to the format, in what is considered his most iconic role, with a handful of swag at a low MSRP compared to other UCE releases. Sold. Throw in two long out-of-print Paramount features starring Lewis from a couple years prior, each valued at around a twenty spot on their own? SOLD. Add in ANOTHER out-of-print disc AND a bonus DVD of the film? Not just sold, but this release has me wondering how much more Warner was willing to throw into this box set before it would be bursting at the seams.

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