Un pitre au pensionnat

Considered the best of the Martin and Lewis comedies, this remake of "The Major and The Minor" (with Lewis in the Ginger Rogers role as an adult disguised as a child to qualify for a half-fare train ticket) improves on the original with a never ending romp of slap-stick humor, musical comedy numbers, and color. Diana Lynn, who plays a teacher, played the teenage roommate to Ginger Rogers in the original. Diana Lynn also starred in Martin and Lewis' debut films "My Friend Irma" and "My Friend Irma Goes To New York." Lewis as a boy is never really believable, but that's okay, it's meant as a spoof of anyone who has tried to pass off an older child as younger for half fare tickets. Most important, the humor is very, very fast and funny. Despite some nice musical moments between Dean and Jerry, there is no mistaking this is Jerry's tour-de-farce, and the reason for their split up obvious. Enjoy the pinnacle of their partnership.

From start to finish, and based on the other pictures the boys were in, this is without a doubt the best of the Martin & Lewis series. For some bizarre reason, 'You're Never Too Young' has been buried in obscurity. Maybe it was because there was just a bit too much M & L exposure in '55, so it got lost in the shuffle. By this time, Paramount was giving M & L pictures the 'A' treatment, in full VistaVision and Technicolor, with a great score of specially-commissioned songs and big production numbers. The Sidney Sheldon script they used in this case wasn't too shabby either, and was more ambitious and wide-ranging than their previous films. There's plenty of the customary wackiness, but more sophistication as well, and the boys can handle it. Lewis is in top form. His multiple role playing is inspired, whether doing a Bogart imitation, or a French barber, or, for most of the picture, posing as an early teen in order to escape tough guy Raymond Burr. Thanks to Norman Taurog's competent direction, he is always 'under control' and consistently hilarious. Dean cruises through effortlessly, and does his usual dandy job. Highlights: crooning to Diana Lynn in his sparkling DeSoto station wagon, and helping Jerry get through 'I Like to Hike' at the girls' school concert. Great supporting roles supplied by Veda Ann Borg, Romo Vincent, Hans Conried and Mitzi McCall as Skeets, who's mad about Jerry. All in all, the best produced, the most rewarding, and the best-managed Martin & Lewis vehicle - not to mention the funniest. Now, Paramount, lift this gem up from the vaults and give us a DVD version. Please? Trust me, you'll get your investment back. UPDATE: Paramount came through: the DVD is outstanding, and the film is better than ever!

With this movie, Martin & Lewis have a reunion with a couple of co-stars from their first feature-My Friend Irma: Diana Lynn, Jane Stacy in that and its sequel, is not only Dean's girl here but also a crush of Jerry's. And Hans Conried plays Jer's barber mentor, Francois. Then there's a couple of cameos from other of M & L's flicks-Nancy Kulp, from The Caddy, as a lady with a "12"-year-old son and Bobby Barber, from Money from Home, as a newsstand clerk. With that out of the way, I'll just say the plot of a jewel robber (Raymond Burr) trying to get the diamond out of Jerry's coat pocket-which the latter doesn't know about-as Jer tries to pass himself off as a minor in order to get a half-fare train ticket with him ending up at a girls school where Martin and Lynn teach is perhaps the most ridiculous story yet for the boys' movies but darned if I didn't find myself constantly laughing anyway! As usual, plenty of Lewis' mugging and doing impersonations provide plenty of fun entertainment along with Martin's smooth crooning on many romantic ballads. And seeing the latter get constantly hit and bumped into by his partner just adds to the fun. So despite the many nonsense shenanigans, I heartily recommend You're Never Too Young.

This movie may not make the most sense, but it sure is funny. The dynamic between Martin and Lewis is delightful.

There are so many funny bits and the whole premise is just so ridiculous. I highly recommend watching if you are a fan of silliness. Even my children, who get bored of my old movies, enjoyed this one.

The best Martin-Lewis collaboration is, to me, Hollywood OR BUST, but this one is not so far behind.

It has some hilarious spoofs of Chaplin's GREAT DICTATOR (the sequence where Mussolini and Hitler are on a barber's chair); NORTH BY NORTHWEST (the sequence in the train where Lewis is in Lynn's room), and of THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR, but, above all, Lewis is in great form playing an 11-year-old kid on the run from murderer and diamond thief Raymond Burr (fresh from playing the evil Thorwald in Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW the previous year).

I reckon Martin was a better actor than Lewis, but his part is less eye-catching. He sings two or three songs, but they are not the best in his career repertoire - quite forgettable, in fact - which does not do him any favors. One sequence where he is supposed to conduct a choir and Lewis takes over pretty much symbolizes Lewis' upper hand throughout YOU ARE NEVER TOO YOUNG.

Diana Lynn is attractive enough in her part, Burr is quite good as the heavy, and the rest of the cast is hardly perceptible.

Taurog's direction is purely commercial with some great action sequences, especially the final ski and boat chase; color photography is quite good for a 1955 low budget movie; and the script is good enough to keep you interested.

A well deserved 7/10.