
The Disorderly Orderly. 1964. USA. Directed by Frank Tashlin. 90 min.
Screenplay by Tashlin, Norm Liebmann, Ed Haas. With Jerry Lewis, Glenda Farrell, Susan Oliver, Everett Sloane. In perhaps the most formally beautiful of the Tashlin-Lewis films—as well as the darkest—Lewis’s biggest failing as an orderly is that he experiences all the pain his patients describe to him; he’s a magnet for suffering. Soon enough his childhood sweetheart (Susan Oliver) arrives, recovering from a failed suicide attempt. But Jerry’s empathy proves to be misplaced, and the film is taken over by inanimate objects in animated revolt—including some resentful shopping carts that take a terrible revenge on their place of employment.