La raison qu’on aime Jerry? C’est le doublage!!!
“http://www.straightdope.com/columns/991001.html”
It’s the dubbing! Dubbing in France is often taken very seriously, giving far better results than what anglophones get from their typical Honk Kong Chop Chop Suey flick.In the case of Jerry Lewis movies, the dubbing improves them considerably.
The french actor who does Jerry’s voice has a good sense of timing, and his voice is actually comical, as opposed to the shrilly whining which the American Jerry over-indulges in.
Jerry’s physical comedy is inventive enough, --it’s his vocalizations that kill a lot of his humour.
Better yet, check out the Laurel and Hardy movies in French. Here, they speak with atrocious American accents, while everyone else speaks ‘normally’ (but all in French, of course). The effect is that these two bumbling dudes wind up epitomizing the silly Americans. Racist, but funny.
Le cinéphile averti,
François
(A.K.A. Trilobite)