Dizzy Doctors

Dizzy Doctors (1937)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Classic Three Stooges short has the boys being threatened by their wives to find jobs or move out. The boys are eventually hired as salesmen and they start passing around what they think is spot remover but it does a lot more damage than that. This is another classic from the Stooges even though the second half isn't nearly as funny as the first. I think the first half features some of their greatest gags, which starts off with the boys sleeping in until eleven, eating breakfast for five minutes and then getting back into bed. Curly eating the soap is one highlight but most of the great gags happen on the streets as the boys start selling. The "spot remover" actually removes clothing from a cops uniform and removes the paint from another guys car and these are the biggest laughs of the film. Another great gag is the cop thinking Larry is missing a leg, which is actually just through a fence.

As a red-blooded American male, I honor my heritage and fulfill my destiny by working hard, paying taxes, and loving the work of The Three Stooges. Especially the great body of work produced during their first seven years at Columbia, from 1934-40. Moe Howard would later claim it was tough sledding for the Stooges then, because the studio kept them in a constant state of apprehension as to their future employment; but the shorts they made prior to 1940 stand the test of time as the freshest, most vibrant, and most fall-down-funny stuff they recorded on film.

"Dizzy Doctors" is a great example of this trio's comedy in it's prime. So much incident is packed into such a short running time; the boy's getting the job selling Brighto, their encounters with the cop and the car owner, their "broadcast" on the hospital intercom, the wheelchair mishap in the hospital corridor...I could go on and on. This film is hysterical.

The boys are at their peak here, years away from Curly's decline, reduced budgets, 'remakes' loaded with old footage, and Joe Besser. From 1934 until 1940 Stooge Comedy was pristine, and "Dizzy Doctors" stands as one of the best examples.

In The Three Stooges in March 1937's "Dizzy Doctors" revisit the same hospital where they made their earlier 1934 "Men in Black." Selling a health elixir, they figure the best place to peddle the product is at the 'Lost Arms Hospital.' They approach the superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Harry Arms (Vernon Dent), who earlier caught the Stooges polishing his car using what they thought was cleaning liquid; the stuff was taking the paint off his car. Dr. Arms and his assistants chase the three throughout the hospital's corridors before they escape into their bed snoring.

Stooges' films also gives today's viewers an insight on how the medium of radio worked during the 1930s. While they were at the hospital, the Stooges took advantage of the microphone of the building's intercom and pitched their product like the were on a radio show. Moe opening their 'program' by hitting the three skulls on the desk, sounding like chimes. The notes played are G, E, and C, the same heard on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) radio shows. The chimes, introduced in 1927 and shortened from its seven to three-note stanza in the early 1930s, were programming cues for the engineers in its network affiliates that the broadcast shows were about to begin or end. Also, when the Stooges hawk their product called Brighto on intercom that comes in six delicious flavors, they're mimicing Jack Benny's pitch on his show's sponsor, Jello.

Hysterical, most definitely. Moe, Larry and Curly are at large, next gaining employment as pitchmen for a revolutionary product called "Bright-O?" With a name like that, the guys think it's some sort of a polish, misunderstanding the inventor, Dr. Bright (Horace Murphy), who claims its a rejuvination formula.

So what do the Stooges do? They're off and running, selling the stuff as a handy helper, like for polishing pants -- which burns a hole in them -- to shining cars -- stripping the paint off! The guys high-tail it back to Dr. Bright, who sends them to the Los Arms Hospital(?), where his formula can do more good? What follows is insane, particularly with a series of laid up, weary patients, waiting to be cured? Not to forget the guy whose car was wrecked by them! I agree, one of the best bits finds Moe advertising Bright-O on the hospital intercom, and with all phony radio charm.

Del Lord returns as director, working his magic in the classic hospital scenes. Imaginatively written by Albert Ray, veteran director of comedy shots, also an actor. Also some interesting casting; plump June Gittelson, instead of playing a background role, plays Moe's wife. Blanche Payson, who appeared with Laurel and Hardy, plays Larry's wife. Vernon Dent plays Dr. Arms and Bud Jamison plays a cop.

Remastered on Columbia dvd, generally by decades, 30s, 40s and 50s episodes. Thanks always to METV for running all the Stooge classics on Saturdays.

The Stooges are ordered by their wives to find jobs or never darken the house again. Fortunately for them, they have awakened bright and early at 11 AM to start searching for work. Their wives read an ad to sell "Brighto," and tell the Stooges to get the sales jobs.

The boys arrive at the Brighto office as "three of the best salesmen who ever saled." They immediately launch into a selling frenzy, running out into the street and down sidewalks hawking Brighto. The Stooges run into trouble when they sell Brighto as a cleaner and not as the medicine it is intended to be. Will they still make a sale and get out of trouble?

"Dizzy Doctors" succeeds on two levels. First, the aforementioned manic way the Stooges sell Brighto; second, when they arrive at Los Arms Hospital to hawk their wares. The scene where they try to cure a man hospitalized for dandruff is hilarious. The hospital scenes harken back to their 1935 Academy Award nominated film, "Men in Black."

A good, solid Stooge comedy. 8 out of 10.