Dean Martin, playing himself, and Kim Novak, as a hooker with a runny nose, don't deliver their comic dialogue. Like blotting paper, they absorb it. In his more successful films, one's too caught up to notice. A retrospective of this scope encourages reappraisals. Movies that once seemed disappointing are illuminated within this context.
Discoveries are to be made.
Barring an unforeseen national emergency to be watched in prime time, the Film Forum is the place to be for at least two days out of each of the next six weeks.