Irma, das unmögliche Mädchen

This really a dumb, dumb movie that makes no sense. A lot of mistakes as who knows who and who is where. How does Irma catch up with the train she missed. No one seems to mind that she's disappeared? The angle of the Martin character so conveniently gets jobs in the business is inane to say the least. And Lewis mugs too much. At one point the sheriff wants a posse to try to find the criminals. He hands out guns to everyone???? Even Jane gets one. Ludicrous. What a mess this one is. And how does Lewis get to where the criminals are with out a vehicle to get out to thee middle of nowhere.????/

For their second film Martin and Lewis did a sequel to My Friend Irma taken from Marie Wilson's popular radio comedy where John Lund finally got Wilson to the altar and Wilson and best friend and roommate Diana Lynn was also marrying Martin.

The weddings were forgotten in My Friend Irma Goes West as Dean Martin guest stars on a radio program and attracts the attention of film star Corinne Calvet to the jealousy of Diana Lynn. Lund is also footloose and fancy free again with his eternal get rich quick schemes that were a big component of My Friend Irma.

However Lynn puts her foot down and takes over management of Martin's career and negotiates a contract with a Hollywood mogul. Who turns out to be an escapee from a booby hatch, but our fearless quintet goes out to Hollywood first class for a job that doesn't exist.

Martin's singing and Lewis's clowning do get them noticed in Las Vegas as he gets booked in Bugsy Siegel's up and coming town. And Lund gets outdealed literally by gangster Lloyd Corrigan in a marvelous bit of casting against type. Of course all the financial and romantic problems get sorted out in the end.

When I reviewed the first My Friend Irma film I said that the Irma character would be great for Jessica Simpson to revive. After seeing this film I still maintain that. God has a special province for Marie Wilson's character who just tra-la-la's through life and somehow makes it through.

There's a bit more of Dean and Jerry in this film than the previous one. Their next film would be At War With The Army where they would finally star.

Corinne Calvet talked at length about this film for Nick Tosches's biography of Dean Martin. Her experience in Hollywood was not a happy one and she mentions the casting couch that both Hal Wallis and Darryl Zanuck used with regularity. In her case she was to service them also for her then husband John Bromfield. She said that Dino was a pleasant person to work with, confident and assured. She liked Jerry as well, but felt there was a certain insecurity with him as he was continually 'on' all the time as if trying hard to please.

The film called for her to work with a chimpanzee, her and Jerry and she said the ape was paying close attention to her. She was asked where she was in her menstrual cycle and when she told director Hal Walker, he said the ape was giving her a booty call. That was a bit unnerving, but I'll bet Corinne got passes just as crude from some humans.

The score was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans and it yielded an early hit for Dean Martin with I'll Always Love You which has a nice Latin flavored tempo to it. My Friend Irma Goes West is still a funny film and the comedy is timeless so it really could be revived today.

Are you reading this Jessica Simpson?

The follow-up to 1949's my friend irma. Mostly the same cast. But in this one, martin and lewis do a bit with the orchestra. And when they head to hollywood to find success, they cross paths with a real shady gang of crooks. It's okay. Kind of goes all over the place. It's a journey, with lots of silliness, singing, and a mostly plausible story. Imdb tells us part of it was really filmed in las vegas. This one directed by hal walker.. had made a couple road films with bob hope and bing crosby. And was nominated for souls at sea! Irma had started as a character on the radio, and made the jump to film at just the right time.

The only thing this movie lacked was plot and humor, which both started out promising. The plot was slow. The songs were slow and not as catchy as in the first movie. And Dean Martin was not the cowboy type. The transition between "My Friend Irma" and "My Friend Irma Goes West" was not smooth. I thought they got married in the end of the first movie, and what happened to all the money Irma won? I was very disappointed with Jerry Lewis' performance, he was just goofy in this movie, not very funny. When Martin and Lewis were together it seemed more like an act, separated from the main plot. It was a cute movie but lacked the charm of the first movie. If your going to see one, see "My Friend Irma"!

This is a sequel to "My Friend Irma", though oddly it doesn't exactly pick up where it should. At the very end of the last film, Irma fell into a construction ditch on the way to the church to FINALLY marry Al. Now, when this second film begins, Al and Irma are still not married and there's no explanation as to why.

This film picks up where it began so far as Al (Dean Martin) and his singing career are concerned. He's still singing at small venues and even has a TV appearance--but it pays almost nothing. His problems seem over when a guy comes to the apartment and Jane (Diana Lynn) is able to negotiate a nice Hollywood contract. There's only one problem---the 'producer' is really an escaped mental patient and Al and his friends have no idea they are heading west with no job waiting.

As a result, they find themselves stuck on the way there. They are lucky enough to meet the very hot-to-trot Ms. Yvonne Yvonne--a stereotypical French actress. She offers to have Steve sing in Vegas at nightclub and their financial difficulties are over...for now. But, as Yvonne Yvonne definitely has the hots for Steve, what is Jane to do--especially since she and Steve are engaged?! Later, Al falls in with some illegal gamblers (no big surprise) and goes to work for them. However, while working in their crooked casino, Al's roulette table pays off big--but shouldn't have since the table was supposedly rigged. So, the gangsters decide to make Al and Irma pay. Can they be rescued and can Steve and Jane work out their problems and find happiness? Tune in and see in this modestly diverting film. Oddly, however, the comedic elements (Irma and Seymour) are among the least entertaining aspects of this comedy.

By the way, one thing I loved about this movie and "My Friend Irma" is that Al has no last name. Even when the police question him, he only uses the name Al--as does Irma who refers to herself as the "future Ms. Al". Cute.