OUT ON VIDEO

A weekly update of video releases

January 25, 1996

DEAN MARTIN & JERRY LEWIS COMEDY COLLECTION - Released just before Dean Martin's death in late 1995, this three-cassette package is a friendly reminder that his name was always billed first during his long collaboration with Hollywood's most manic comedian. Even though Jerry Lewis was the attention-getter of the team - it was hard to compete with the face-twisting farce and voice-stretching shenanigans he excelled at - Martin had formidable skills of his own. After the duo's breakup he made strong contributions to movies as varied as the dramatic ''Some Came Running'' and the acerbic ''Kiss Me Stupid,'' not to mention his accomplishments as a smooth-toned pop vocalist. The lighter side of his talent is amply on display in the early efforts collected here, starting with the team's screen debut in ''My Friend Irma,'' a 1949 comedy based on a popular radio show. While the title character is a bubble-brained woman (Marie Wilson) who complicates the life of her roommate (Diana Lynn) and her layabout boyfriend, it's Martin and Lewis who get the biggest laughs as a couple of juice-bar proprietors who enter the show-biz world; much of their shtick comes from material already honed in their real-life nightclub act. Funnier and more visually inventive is ''Jumping Jacks'' from 1952, a cold-war comedy with Martin as a singer-turned-paratrooper and Lewis as his partner, who masquerades as a soldier to appear in a morale-boosting show for the boys on an Army base. Rounding out the package is ''Scared Stiff,'' rehashing a Bob Hope comedy about spooky doings on a Cuban island. Martin shares the musical duties with Carmen Miranda, and melodrama specialist Lizabeth Scott and '50s icon Dorothy Malone spice up the supporting cast. There's little great filmmaking to be spotted in any of these pictures - comedy craftsman Norman Taurog directed ''Jumping Jacks,'' and George Marshall brought his mostly uninspired touch to the others - but M&L fans will find plenty of goofiness to bask in, and history-minded viewers can try to figure out why a trifle like ''Scared Stiff'' burned up the box office in 1953. (Not rated; Paramount)