The Girl Can't Help It

Dir: Frank Tashlin

1956

****

Frank Tashlin's 1956 musical The Girl Can't Help It came from an amalgamation of rushed ideas and ended up being one of the most influential films to a whole generation, although that generation may not be aware of it. Based on an idea featured in the novel Do Re Mi by Garson Kanin (writer, director, husband of Ruth Gordon and most quotable man in Hollywood history) the film was initially intended as just a quick and cheap vehicle for rising star Jane Mansfield. The joke in Hollywood at the time was that Mansfield couldn't act, she only looked pretty and the film was a satire along the same lines. Mansfield plays Jerri, a 'nobody' with a body, who is due to marry Fats Murdock, a once notorious slot-machine mobster who is only a few years out of the clink. Murdock wants Jerri to become a big star (so he can be seen to marry 'somebody') and hires down on his luck (and alcoholic) press agent Tom Miller to work his magic. Miller has a 'strictly business' reputation, so Fats feels he can trust him but as the two work together, they soon fall deeply in love. The story is fine but the film really is all about the performances and the music. It strikes me that instead of writing a standard musical, the makers cut out the middle and simply hired current young musicians to play themselves and their own music. It could have been laziness, it could have been the work of genius but The Girl Can't Help It has since become known as the birth of Rock 'n' Roll in Hollywood. The film's big number, 'Rock around the Rockpile' is one of the few songs written for the film and is supposed to be a satirical example of how easy Rock 'n' Roll is to produce, as it follows Eddie Cochran's 'Twenty Flight Rock'. It's a bit shocking really and I wonder whether Cochran was aware he was indirectly being made fun of but it was his performance that struck a young John Lennon who had gone to see the film at his local cinema in Liverpool. Lennon would play the same song and perform the same actions to entice a young Paul McCarthy to join his band. Lennon, and many other young musicians and music lovers saw their favourite singers for the first time in the flesh. The film features Little Richard, Fats Domino, Eddie Cochran, The Platters, Abbey Lincoln and an amazing performance from Gene Vincent that is so striking, it's no surprise people state that it was the birth of rockabilly. Elvis Presley was offered a role in the film but his agent asked for too much money. Interestingly, Elvis made Jailhouse Rock the following year, with much of the film visiting similar themes and songs. The music is awesome, personally my favourite parts are when the fictional character of Tom Miller sees his lost love, the very real Julie London, every time he drinks too much whiskey. London appears as a scantily dressed ghost and sings a couple of her greatest hits in what are easily my favourite parts of the movie. I also love Edmond O'Brian as the larger than life Fats Murdock and his sidekick/partner in crime Mousie (played by the brilliant Henry Jones). The film also breaks the forth wall quite wonderfully. The introduction sees Tom Ewell literally push the sides of the screen away to create cinemascope and switch the film from black and white to vibrant colour. The closing credits is also brilliant, whereby Fats Murdock jumps through the closing fade to beg the audience to stick around and meet him after the show. I would love to have seen that in the cinemas in 1956. There is so much going on and so much to enjoy, it is amazing that Jane Mansfield actually got a look in, but she does and she proves that she is indeed, more than just a pretty face.