Only pre-code Warner Brothers could give us such utter nonsense presented as a real drama which bizarrely we will actually enjoy. It's a delicious gilded cow pat!
'Oh Bob, you're marvellous.' says nurse Jean Muir to her fake doctor boyfriend. She swoons over how clever he is to fool everyone into believing that he's a top doctor. Yes - this picture's about a fake doctor.... a fake doctor is the hero of the film! How on earth did the WB executives think that this was a good idea?
Fortunately for "Dr" Bob, as his patients die he asks a friend to quickly invent a machine to bring people back from the dead so no harm done. Yes, that's what I said, 'a machine to bring people back from the dead' but such a minor little invention like that is not considered important enough to take up more than about two minutes of screen time. Have I used the phrase utter nonsense yet?
I don't usually get hot under the collar at seeing "racist" attitudes towards black people in some old films - that's just the way things were in America back then. In this however, Louise Beavers' ridiculously stupid characterisation of the stereotypical subservient black maid is cringy - good God woman, surely whatever you were paid can't be worth degrading yourself like this. Fortunately she only has one small scene and you quickly forget it as your mind is engulfed by the overall stupid incredulity of the story.
So this film has unsavoury racism, an utterly stupid story, unimaginative direction, poor acting from the supporting cast (come on though, how could they believe in this) and worst of all, we're supposed to root for an amoral crook who's whole raison d'etre will result in people dying. Why would anyone ever want to watch this? Because Warren William is fantastic in it!
This exemplifies just how marvellous Warren William was - that we do find ourselves hoping that he gets away with it shows what charisma that guy had and what a superb actor he was that he can make such unpalatable drivel so entertaining. I feel guilty saying this but, I liked this.
'Oh Bob, you're marvellous.' says nurse Jean Muir to her fake doctor boyfriend. She swoons over how clever he is to fool everyone into believing that he's a top doctor. Yes - this picture's about a fake doctor.... a fake doctor is the hero of the film! How on earth did the WB executives think that this was a good idea?
Fortunately for "Dr" Bob, as his patients die he asks a friend to quickly invent a machine to bring people back from the dead so no harm done. Yes, that's what I said, 'a machine to bring people back from the dead' but such a minor little invention like that is not considered important enough to take up more than about two minutes of screen time. Have I used the phrase utter nonsense yet?
I don't usually get hot under the collar at seeing "racist" attitudes towards black people in some old films - that's just the way things were in America back then. In this however, Louise Beavers' ridiculously stupid characterisation of the stereotypical subservient black maid is cringy - good God woman, surely whatever you were paid can't be worth degrading yourself like this. Fortunately she only has one small scene and you quickly forget it as your mind is engulfed by the overall stupid incredulity of the story.
So this film has unsavoury racism, an utterly stupid story, unimaginative direction, poor acting from the supporting cast (come on though, how could they believe in this) and worst of all, we're supposed to root for an amoral crook who's whole raison d'etre will result in people dying. Why would anyone ever want to watch this? Because Warren William is fantastic in it!
This exemplifies just how marvellous Warren William was - that we do find ourselves hoping that he gets away with it shows what charisma that guy had and what a superb actor he was that he can make such unpalatable drivel so entertaining. I feel guilty saying this but, I liked this.