Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews

Doctor, Feel My Pulse (1944) - Vera Vague

(1/1)

Paul Pain:




https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036763/

Required reading: CALLING ALL DOCTORS (Charley Chase)

Two Vera Vague shorts means two remakes of Charley Chase shorts!  And once again Vera compares to Charley's performance, but sadly the effects aren't quite as good hear.  By effects, I mean obvious stunt doubles (which is still funny though) overall sloppiness.  Nevertheless, there are some differences between the two.

Vera handles the opening scene very well and compares to Charley's performance in the original.  She is clearly a seasoned pro on line delivery and knows what inflections to give and when to give them.  This is important for her.  The opening, although the situation presented is slightly different, it's effectively the same.

When Vera goes to the first doctor, the joke with her believing she has a tic is fulfilled with a stream of wolves behind her as she makes her way to the office of... A. Curlee Wolf, who is played by Bud Jamison.  Bud, FYI, plays a wolf very well, and puts his hands where few dare in the Hayes code 1940s.

The setup with the fake doctor is exactly the same and done very well.  Jack Norton, much like his role as Mr. Walsh in RHYTHM AND WEEP, is the maniac here, and he does well as a harmless madman yet again.  He performs his role with perfect polish.

George Lewis and Christine McIntyre make a perfect pair to be Vera's co-stars during the second reel, and the buildup in this one is done better than in the original.  Again, it's a far fetched plot, but I can forgive it because it delivers non-stop laughs.  But they're both much weaker in the first reel than in the Chase equivalent.

Once again, a superb presentation is made by Jules White's crew.

9/10 [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke]

HomokHarcos:
Funny that her using a spray after somebody sneezes is portrayed as her being obsessive about germs, but disinfectant sprays are very common now since the COVID pandemic. Again, I noticed the story is more plot based than most Columbia comedies, again that is probably because of Charley Chase.

Metaldams mentioned it before in a Harry Langdon short: Christine McIntyre looks like a brunette here. The other one was harder to tell because of the video quality, but here I can definitely tell she had dark hair. Bud Jamison was very goofy, he is one of my favorite supporting actors. I liked him more than the cuckoo doctor that she ended up seeing shortly after.

metaldams:
Yes, another Charley Chase plot and very entertaining.  I pretty much echo what’s being said - Vera handles the material very well.  The physicality isn’t quite as broad as in the Chase short towards the end but I think that works to this version’s advantage.  The situation itself is pretty funny and broad slapstick isn’t really necessary here.  About brunette Christine, yippy skippy, to quote Miss Piggy.  When she puts on Vera’s dress, she’s practically falling out of that thing, which I’ve never seen of her in a Stooge short.  Plus she flat out kisses Vera’s husband right in front of her.  Between her and Vera, definitely two of the more talented ladies of Columbia, a great joy of this short.  Also really dig Jack Norton, he’s made for these kind of roles.

I would like to see Vera in more original material, but between this series and Shemp....and perhaps elsewhere.....Columbia was really mining the Charley Chase scripts in the mid forties, no doubt.  Vera works better in these kind of scripts than Shemp.  I think the writers really needed to watch some Shemp Vitaphones, or maybe even their own Stooge shorts, to know how to use him better.

Umbrella Sam:
As I mentioned in my CALLING ALL DOCTORS review, I felt the standout there was John T. Murray as the man who thought he was a doctor. There was something about his delivery that really worked well for those types of roles. It was the kind of delivery that felt both calm, yet spirited at the same time. Jack Norton plays the role in a more monotone way, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I like his performance, but I just don’t feel it’s as distinct or memorable as John T. Murray’s.

The rest of the short works pretty well too. I wasn’t crazy about the over-the-top ending in the Chase version, but I think it does work a bit better with Vera, as she seems like the kind of comedienne that could react well to crazy situations. Her reactions early on when Christine was sneezing into the phone were especially funny. Overall, it’s another good remake, although I would have to say that I slightly prefer the Chase version simply because of John T. Murray.

9 out of 10

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