Doctor Rhythm

My wife and I saw Dr. Rhythm when we were first married about 40 years ago. We loved it and never forgot the main song, nor Beatricy Lillie driving Franklin Pangborn crazy over the danner nipkins. For the last 20 years or so we've tried unsuccessfully to get a copy. Turner doesn't even list it. Other posters here also remember it fondly, hoping to see it again. Good news! As of January 2013 the entire film is posted on YouTube. We just watched it and it was as good as we remembered. The songs are pleasant, the actors are old favorites, including Andy Devine and Sterling Holloway. The action is unexpected and well paced. The comedy is unforced and genuine. Bea Lillie steals the show whenever she appears. Indeed, she should have received equal billing with Crosby. Why not? Only a gypsy knows!

'Doctor Rhythm' is not one of Bing Crosby's best films, for me it's one of his weakest, but even his weakest films are still worth seeing at least once.

If you're looking for a great story or script, look elsewhere. Anybody wanting good songs, some entertainment and decent performances will not feel short-changed. The story is very slight and silly even for a comedy musical, with a tone that can veer on the weird. The script is similarly flimsy with little attention to characterisation, and while some of the comedy is funny some of it bumbles along in a jumbled and tedious fashion.

Direction is at times routine, and Crosby while with an easy-going charm has looked more comfortable in other films. Mary Carlisle is a little dull in a ditzy sort of role with not much meat.

However, 'Doctor Rhythm' is a handsome-looking film, with a beautifully rendered opening and is very nicely shot. The song are very pleasant, with Crosby's contribution being excellent and makes one wonder why they are not better known, "My Heart is Taking Lessons" in particular. There are funny moments, and 'Doctor Rhythm' does have a good nature and a warm heart.

Crosby sings sublimely as always, his singing is often described as crooning and while the term is understandable it is somewhat unfair to Crosby's artistry. Stealing the show however is Beatrice Lillie, the film playing to her strengths as a sophisticated slapstick performer. "Two Dozen Double Damask Dinner Napkins", her justifiably famous stage and record sketch, is the highlight of the film.

All in all, worth seeing especially for Lillie but there are better Crosby films around. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Hi I've been looking for a copy of this film for some time. If anyone has one please contact me. In addition to the classic double damask napkin scene there is a very funny dentist scene with Bea Lillie and Andy Devine.

Joe Higgins

The film starts out slow, but jumps to full speed whenever Bea Lillie is on screen. Mostly just a jumble of tedious situation comedy bumbling, the film is saved by Ms. Lillie's musical numbers and her "double-damask dinner napkin" routine with Franklin Pangborn.

"Doctor Rhythm" (Paramount, 1938), directed by Frank Tuttle, based upon a story, "The Badge of Policeman O'Roon" by O. Henry, is a lightweight musical-comedy starring Bing Crosby, a movie that seems to be best remembered today solely for its "Double Dasmisk Dinner Napkins" routine featuring none other than comedienne Beatrice Lillie (1894-1989) in a very rare screen appearance during Hollywood's Golden Age. And she is not only very funny, but a bizarre personality who seems to be an unlikely performer to be featured in a Bing Crosby musical.

The story opens at Central Park when four alumni of Public School 43 of Brooklyn, N.Y., meet at midnight (?) for their annual reunion. The four men are Luke (Sterling Holloway), an ice cream salesman; Al (Rufe Davis), a zoo keeper; Larry O'Roon (Andy Devine), a policeman; and Doctor William Remsen (Bing Crosby), getting together, and singing the film's first tune, "P.S. 43." Because O'Roon gets nice and drunk and is unable to go on duty the following morning, Remsen decides to take his place for the day, assuming the assignment as a bodyguard to a spoiled heiress named Judy Marlowe (Mary Carlisle), engaged to a phony, Chris LeRoy (Fred Keating) who not only has a questionable past, but is only after her money. Of course, she's unaware of his scheme. After a love-hate relationship between Remsen and Judy, the thin storyline concludes with a policeman's benefit supported by Lorelei Dodge-Blodgett (Bea Lillie) who not only MC's on stage wearing roller skates, but performs in an opera burlesque number titled "Only a Gypsy Knows."

Other songs by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Monaco include: "My Heart is Taking Lessons" (sung by Crosby); "Rhythm" (sung by Bea Lillie); "On the Sentimental Side" "On the Sentimental Side" (reprise); "My Heart is Taking Lessons," "This Is My Night to Dream" (this nice sentimental tune sung by Crosby to Carlisle in the tunnel of love sequence); and "My Heart is Taking Lessons" (sung by Crosby and cast). Although I find many of the songs quite listenable, they are virtually forgotten today.

The supporting players include Franklin Pangborn and William Austin, character actors who partake in the "Double Dasmisk Dinner Napkins" routine; Laura Hope Crews, John Hamilton (the one and only Perry White of the "Superman" TV series of the 1950s) and Henry Wadsworth as Otis. As for blonde and pert Mary Carlisle, she makes her third and final appearance opposite Crosby.

Like many other musicals of the 1930s, "Doctor Rhythm" is just an excuse to have Bing Crosby going through 80 minutes or so of silly plot and introducing several tunes with a songwriter's hope that one of them will end up on the Hit Parade charts before rapping it all up in the end. While no masterpiece, "Doctor Rhythm" is a real curio, and a film's buff's dream to have it resurface again on television or video. (***)