The films have aged well, but more so the films he didn't direct.
I was blown away by Frank Tashlin's Who's Minding The Store? He brought a humanity, romance, sexiness and refinement to Jerry's screen persona.
Jerry's own directing is a mutation of Tashlin's, more bizarre but more sloppy, amateur and rushed. Lewis experimented more as he was less focused on plot, character, emotionality or personal statement. It feels like he's assuming what audiences like rather than giving us what he likes, which is why his films are more difficult, not very funny and often boring.
But Lewis was definitely a more economical and lowbrow director. His directorial debut "The Bellboy" is among his best not because of plot or even cleverness of the comedy. The production aesthetic is minimized because of cost and schedule so he's making what was then a postmodern silent film. Lewis could throw a film together out of nothing and it would be mostly filler but always have a few moments of gold.
He would remake Bellboy into better films like The Patsy, The Errand Boy and The Ladies Man until making his zenith The Nutty Professor thanks to a growing stable of great repertoire writers, actors, designers and a fine budget and premise. Later films like The Family Jewels and The Big Mouth are almost painfully bland, forced, thin, repetitive and unoriginal. Lewis was always more of a performer than an artist and too much of a capitalist lapdog cut off from real social experience. His films often reek of insecurity, depression, sexual confusion and a violent madness, especially as he aged and his star fell.
Tashlin was the real genius who made solo Jerry as well as Martin & Lewis bankable. Lewis developed his style from the colorful and gag heavy Tashlin form. But Tashlin always tempered it with just enough plot, antagonism, protagonism and (imagine it) well thought out jokes. Lewis would depend of improv and putting himself center stage. Tashlin storyboarded, had excess material, surrounded Jerry with amazing supportive players and always respected the audience. He controlled the anarchistic Jerry ego and made it something universal and appealing.
Jerry scored a late stage masterpiece with Cracking Up. I've reviewed it on this blog because it is Jerry at his most focused, experimental, mature, dark and professional.
Lewis maybe wasn't a genius as a director but he was an important and decent comedy director and probably a genius actor when he was coached properly. One of the most tired jokes is that the French are crazy for thinking Lewis was a genius, let alone funny. He was both when he wanted to be.
