Feel My Pulse (1928)

A rich but hypochondriac heiress inherits a sanitarium. What she doesn't know is that it is a front for bootleggers, and a hideout for criminals on the run from the law.

Director:

Gregory La Cava

Writers:

Nicholas T. Barrows, George Marion Jr. (titles),

Stars:

Bebe Daniels, Richard Arlen, William Powell

Cast

Cast overview:
Bebe Daniels	...	Barbara Manning
Richard Arlen	...	Her Problem
William Powell	...	Her Nemesis
Melbourne MacDowell	...	Her Uncle Wilberforce
George Irving	...	Her Uncle Edgar
Charles Sellon	...	Her Sanitarium's Caretaker
Heinie Conklin	...	Her Patient

Storyline

A rich but hypochondriac heiress inherits a sanitarium. What she doesn't know is that it is a front for bootleggers, and a hideout for criminals on the run from the law.

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Plot Keywords:

sanitarium | rumrunner

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Release Date:

26 February 1928 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fühle meinen Puls

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

63 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Commune (2005)

User Reviews

If it feels good, watch it

"Feel My Pulse" is quite an entertaining late-silent comedy from Paramount Pictures. This one takes an extremely offbeat premise and runs with it in a pleasing semi-deadpan style. Has been raised to be a hypochondriac according to the eccentric terms of a will. Now her skeptical Texan uncle has custody of her, so she escapes to the family-owned sanitarium, which has unfortunately been taken over by rum-runners.

Daniels plays this an understated, almost straight way that lets the comedy of the situations come through all the more, and, of course, much of the premise is an excuse for playing on the juxtaposition of Daniels' sheltered, mannered, stilted character among rough bootleggers, and this comes off well with the scenes of a newly-arrived Daniels trying to navigate riding in a taxi cab are some of the funniest.

It doesn't make sense to call this film talky since it isn't actually a talkie, but it is curiously dialgue-dependent, with frequent use of longer-title cards to carry scenes. This isn't usually too intrusive in the case of this particular film, but it's curious. The scenes that take place just after Daniels' character have arrived at the sanatorium, in fact, is essentially carried by a series of good puns that make ailments sound like drinks and vice versa ("local bruise" / "local brews"). This is a later silent feature, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were written before the studio knew if it would be made silent or not.

As others have pointed out the scene where a bottle of liquor is confused for medicine goes on a little long -- and so does a slightly disconnected scene of Daniels floating on an errant board that doesn't really come of as a stunt. Overall though the pacing is good the film moves a long at an enjoyable clip.