---
title: "Artists and Models"
year: 1955
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/artists-and-models"
fi1m_id: "artists-and-models"
imdb_id: "tt0047840"
tmdb_id: 43317
wikidata_id: "Q1850843"
fi1m_score: 72
critics_score: 63
critics_reviews: 5
published: "2026-09-25T07:03:38.066350+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-25T07:04:16.672349+00:00"
region: "KR"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Artists and Models (1955)

Directed by Frank Tashlin · 1h 50m · Comedy

## Identity

Artists and Models

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/artists-and-models
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** artists-and-models
- **IMDb ID:** tt0047840
- **TMDB ID:** 43317
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1850843
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047840/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/43317, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1850843

**Fi1m score: 72** · Critics 63 (early) from 5 reviews

*In a sentence:* Jerry Lewis gives comic strips more attention than most adults give their tax returns

> Frank Tashlin’s comedy is worth the noise for its colour, comic-strip mischief and Shirley MacLaine. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis supply plenty of energy, though 110 minutes gives their less successful routines too much room.

## Synopsis

Rick Todd (Dean Martin) and Eugene Fullstack (Jerry Lewis) run amok with spies and models. Eugene is obsessed with comic strips, bringing the violent fantasies of children’s entertainment into the men’s adult escapades. Bessie Sparrowbush (Shirley MacLaine) and Abigail Parker (Dorothy Malone) are part of the commotion, along with Mr. Murdock (Eddie Mayehoff). Comic-book fixations, sexual fantasies and espionage compete for attention as the pair get into trouble among a crowd that also includes Sonia / Mrs. Curtis (Eva Gabor).

## Review

*Artists and Models* is a good comedy with a fairly high tolerance for its own bad behaviour. Frank Tashlin takes Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, surrounds them with spies and models, and gives their antics the bright colour and exaggerated energy that comic strips encourage. The result is enjoyable enough to forgive the stretches when everyone seems to be working harder than the joke deserves. We recommend it for an evening of broad physical comedy, with a warning about how insistently broad it can become.

Eugene Fullstack’s comic-strip obsession gives Jerry Lewis something more useful than a general invitation to be frantic. There is a recognisable unease behind the fooling: children are being offered violent fantasies, and the grown-ups hardly seem equipped to keep those fantasies in proportion. We laughed at Eugene’s fixation, then felt uneasy about what was feeding it. Frank Tashlin keeps that discomfort close enough to the comedy to make the silliness interesting, without turning the film into a lecture about suitable reading.

Dean Martin’s Rick Todd provides a necessary change of pace beside Jerry Lewis’s Eugene Fullstack. The contrast works when the film allows us to notice it, rather than requiring both men to contribute to the commotion. Shirley MacLaine, playing Bessie Sparrowbush, is a welcome source of comic energy beyond the double act. Dorothy Malone, as Abigail Parker, also helps keep the picture from feeling like a private arrangement between its stars, though the emphasis on the women’s looks becomes tiresome.

Daniel L. Fapp’s cinematography is a substantial part of the pleasure, using bright colour to make the exaggeration feel at home on screen. The images have enough life to sustain our interest when the verbal and physical business begins to strain. That is useful support, but it also makes the weaker jokes easier to spot: the pictures can be more inventive than the material they illustrate. Frank Tashlin’s enthusiasm for comic-strip imagery is persuasive even when his comic timing is not.

That timing is the main reservation. The screenplay by Hal Kanter, Herbert Baker and Frank Tashlin has more appetite for complication than judgement about when enough has happened. Warren Low’s editing gives the bustle momentum, but the film too often continues a routine after its comic value has run out. At 110 minutes, it has ample opportunity to turn energy into fatigue, and the spy material contributes less pleasure than the fixation on comics.

As a double-act comedy, it works hardest for us when the performers have something particular to be ridiculous about. Comics supply that focus, while the sexual fantasies suggest that the adults have their own difficulties separating imagination from sensible behaviour. Yet the satire remains mild, and the film sometimes settles for displaying what it might have examined. We do not need a sermon, but a little more attention to the consequences of all this fantasy would give the jokes greater bite.

Choose it when noisy foolishness sounds like a pleasure rather than an ordeal. Allow for the routines that overstay, and resist expecting the spies to give the story much discipline. Anyone hoping that Jerry Lewis will settle down should probably make other plans.

*Fi1m score 72, published 25 September 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Artists and Models worth watching?**

*Artists and Models* is worth watching for fans of broad physical comedy, bright colour and comic-strip mischief, and we score it 72 out of 100. Shirley MacLaine adds welcome comic energy alongside Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, though the 110-minute running time lets weaker routines drag, and the spy business is less rewarding than the comic-book obsession.

**How long is Artists and Models, and what is it rated?**

*Artists and Models* runs 1h 50m. It is a comedy film.

**Where can I watch Artists and Models in South Korea?**

*Artists and Models* is not on any streaming or rental service in South Korea at the moment. It is available in 21 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

### Reviews we read (5)

- **Radio Times**, Tony Sloman (4/5): The critic calls it a superior, gloriously entertaining Martin-and-Lewis comedy. They praise its brilliant Technicolor and VistaVision photography, as well as Frank Tashlin’s comic direction. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-dhgp5w/artists-and-models/)
- **The New Yorker** (70/100, inferred): The capsule is appreciative of Tashlin’s imaginative critique of violence in children’s entertainment, while noting that the film’s sexual and violent fantasies may be better left imagined. It singles out Tashlin’s pop visions and Hitchcockian winks as strengths. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/artists-and-models)
- **The New York Times**, Bosley Crowther (64/100, inferred): The page is inaccessible, so the critic’s verdict and any specific praise or complaint cannot be verified. The available headline identifies the film but does not reveal the review’s assessment. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1955/12/22/archives/martin-lewis-comedy-team-stars-in-artists-and-models.html)
- **Time Out**, DT (64/100, inferred): The available description offers no clear overall verdict. It singles out Lewis’s comic-strip obsession as leading into mild satire. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/artists-and-models)
- **Variety**, Variety Staff (35/100, inferred): The review finds the comedy overdone and slapdash, though it recognizes it as a diversion in the Martin and Lewis manner. It singles out Shirley MacLaine and Dorothy Malone’s appealing figures as a distraction from their facial expressions. [Read](https://variety.com/1954/film/reviews/artists-and-models-2-1200417940/)

## Details

- **Director:** Frank Tashlin
- **Director:** Frank Tashlin
- **Screenplay:** Frank Tashlin, Herbert Baker, Hal Kanter
- **Cinematography:** Daniel L. Fapp
- **Editor:** Warren Low
- **Costume design:** Edith Head
- **Producer:** Hal B. Wallis
- **Cast:** Dean Martin as Rick Todd; Jerry Lewis as Eugene Fullstack; Shirley MacLaine as Bessie Sparrowbush; Dorothy Malone as Abigail Parker; Eddie Mayehoff as Mr. Murdock; Eva Gabor as Sonia / Mrs. Curtis; Anita Ekberg as Anita; George Winslow as Richard Stilton
- **Runtime:** 1h 50m
- **First release (Germany):** 7 November 1955
- **Genres:** Comedy
- **Budget:** $2 million
- **Box office:** $4 million

## Where to watch in South Korea

Not streaming, renting or buying in South Korea at the last check.

Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CZ, DE, DK, FR, GB, HR, IE, IN, LT, NO, NZ, RO, RS, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Girl Can't Help It* (1956): Another bright comedy where popular entertainment gives the satire something specific to bite.
- *The Ladies Man* (1961): Jerry Lewis gets more room for physical invention and architectural absurdity.
- *PlayTime* (1967): For visual comedy that rewards watching the edges of the frame.
- *Daisies* (1966): Two women make misbehaviour colourful, destructive and considerably harder to contain.
- *Tampopo* (1985): Food, desire and comic digressions share space without anyone insisting on good manners.

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/artists-and-models