The Jack Lemmon Collection On DVD!

The Jack Lemmon Collection, a six DVD disc set of films featuring funnyman Jack Lemmon, is out this week. And while a lot of these films are not on par with Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, there are some real overlooked gems in here.

Phffft! (1954) is about the bust-up of a marriage but it stars Judy Holiday and Kim Novak. Operation Mad Ball (1957) is a military spoof with Ernie Kovaks. The Notorious Landlady (1962) is a particular favorite, a comedy/mystery with stunning Kim Novak and Fred Astaire and a wild runaway wheelchair scene at the end. Under The Yum Yum Tree (1963) is a salacious sex comedy with Dean Jones and such great character actor comedians as Paul Lynde and Imogene Coca. And another favorite of mine is the rollicking comedy Good Neighbor Sam, (1964) which has Lemmon working as an ad man and pretending to be the husband of his wife’s (Dorothy Provine) friend (the gorgeous Romy Schneider) so she get an inheritance. With the wonderful Louis Nye, and a car race around the city disfiguring billboards, this one is a riot. There’s a great bonus disc with a documentary about the legendary screen actor hosted by his son Chris Lemmon.