Word: witlessness
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...film's plot, however feeble, is enough to cramp the free-style wackiness of Martin & Lewis. In turn, their witless routines put a blight on whatever slim fun the play once offered in situations and dialogue. Between straight-man chores, Crooner Martin imitates Bing Crosby in the picture's songs, including one that gets billing as a Crosby imitation. Though he mugs, screeches, gyrates, even swishes through a female impersonation, Comedian Lewis sorely lacks one prop that has bolstered his success: a well-oiled nightclub audience...
...newsworthy event; that the young actor should be unanimously hailed by the critics as the best Lear they had known made it an important occasion in the English-speaking theatre. Later Lears that have come along, notably Laurence Olivier's, have pleased some critics who prefer a witless, senile Lear. But most reviewers emphasize the word "majesty' in their praise of the Devlin Lear. The New York Times corrsepondent wrote that Mr. Devlin was acting Lear "in the classical tradition, caring less for displays than for proportion, completeness, and an architectural justice of line...
...Baby Makes Three (Columbia) drives Robert Young and Barbara Hale to some witless and feverish activity over prospective parenthood. The opening shots, in which a pregnant bride faints at the altar, are something of a novelty. After that, the movie works furiously to overcome its initial breach of Hollywood convention. Some faint sparkle radiates from the racy photography, Robert Young's owl-like pantomime and Robert Hutton's cagey portrayal of a sissified rich boy. But the picture gets its most memorable effects from a series of stylish cocktail-hour gowns...