Doctor Rhythm (1938) User Reviews (11)

This Crooning Doctor's Got Rhythm

[lugonian · 7/10 · 15 June 2001]

"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. (***)

More like Dr. Lillie!

[jennyp-2 · 6/10 · 4 June 2001]

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.

Lesser Crosby, still worth seeing especially for Beatrice Lillie

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 7 October 2016]

'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

Very funny

[Icehands · 6/10 · 21 August 2000]

The recollection of this film is from the 60's tv. There were several enjoyable characters, including Andy Devine. The most memorable part is a bit done between Bea Lillie, customer and Franklin Pangborn, store salesman. The difficulty of purchasing a doudle dozen damask dinner napkins is hilarious. If anyone out there has a copy of this film, I would love to see it again.

Doctor Rhythm is one of the Bing Crosby movies that doesn't make too much sense but is enjoyable despite that

[tavm · 7/10 · 22 February 2018]

After years of knowing this obscure Bing Crosby movie was on YouTube, I finally decided to watch this just now there. The story is quite a mess concerning Crosby's doctor character switching places with Andy Devine's policeman for reasons I don't feel like revealing here. Also appearing is legendary British stage comedienne Bea Lillie who does her "dinner napkins" routine to hilarious effect with Franklin Pangborn and a few others. She also has another funny one with Devine as the doctor and one with Crosby near the end. She also performs some funny numbers sans Crosby who does his usual love songs to nice effect. In summary, Doctor Rhythm was a funny musical comedy but don't expect it to make too much sense if you want to enjoy it to its fullest...

Lady Peel At Work

[boblipton · 7/10 · 13 March 2024]

Singing doctor Bing Crosby -- I hope he's not a proctologist -- helps out enfeebled friend cop Andy Devine. He rents a uniform and takes his place, assigned to Beatrice Lillie. Her niece, Mary Carlisle, wants to elope with Fred Keating. Miss Lillie is too busy singing quodlibets, trying to buy dinner napkins, and roller-skating at a police benefit, so Crosby must forestall the younger woman.

Director Frank Tuttle expertly referees this mishmosh, with Crosby singing two solos and a duet with Miss Lillie, Keating performing a magic trick -- he was a stage magician before turning actor -- and Miss Carlisle looking pretty. Miss Lillie, of course, steals every scene she's in, repeating some of her stage routines, and holding her own against such expert farceurs as Laura Hope Crewe, Franklin Pangborn, and Sterling Holloway. The copy I looked at did not include the Louis Armstrong number, but Bing played second banana in his starring role, and liked it. As did I.

Bing's big boo-boo; Lillie's shilly-shally

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 1/10 · 18 August 2005]

'Doctor Rhythm' is the worst film Bing Crosby ever starred in. Bing made this movie at his home studio Paramount during one of his best career arcs. The film has good production values, especially an impressive studio mock-up of Manhattan's Central Park. So, why is this film so painfully dull?

Part of the problem is down to a weak score. The best song here is the insipid 'This Is My Night to Dream'. The script is even worse. Ostensibly, this movie is based on O. Henry's story 'The Badge of Policeman O'Roon'. In that story, a fictional war hero clearly based on Theodore Roosevelt impersonates his friend O'Roon (a mounted police officer assigned to Central Park) when O'Roon is unable to fulfil his duties: the brief story ends with one of O. Henry's trademark coincidences. If Paramount had actually filmed that story (which had barely enough plot to sustain a feature-length film), the result would have been better than this mess. Instead, we have a weird plot in which Crosby is a white-coated medico who illegally substitutes for his policeman friend, foot patrolman Andy Devine. The trim-figured Crosby looks dapper in a patrolman's tunic, but the huge slobby Devine looks so different from Bing that it's difficult to imagine Crosby substituting for Devine. And where did Crosby's character find a police tunic that fits him so well? The opening scene of this movie -- an illicit midnight foot-race in Central Park -- is fast-moving and shows promise, but the film's all downhill from there. I blame screenwriter Jo Swerling, a man of little talent who nevertheless got his name onto several prestigious projects. Swerling is contractually credited as co-author of the great Broadway musical 'Guys and Dolls', but that theatre classic does not retain a single word of Swerling's original (and worthless) script.

The single worst problem with 'Dr Rhythm' is that someone at Paramount intended it to be a star vehicle for Bea Lillie, who only briefly appears alongside Bing in this movie. The Canadian-born Bea Lillie was married to a British peer and was often mistakenly assumed to be English. In the 1930s, Lillie was a huge star in Broadway musicals ... however, it's notable that she only starred in revues: shows with songs and skits but no plot. In the 1960s, Lillie played Madame Arcati in the Broadway musical 'High Spirits': this was her one and only success in a book musical. Lillie simply didn't have the acting ability to carry a narrative story. She starred in a semi-amusing silent, 'Exit Smiling', but most of her other film work is in supporting roles. I found her performance in 'Around the World in Eighty Days' deeply annoying.

In 'Dr Rhythm', the banal plot and Bing's groaning are interrupted a couple of times so that Bea Lillie's specialities can get crowbarred into the movie. We see the routine in which she orders a double dozen double damask dinner napkins from a flustered shop clerk; Lillie had done this routine on Broadway but was careful never to perform it in Britain, where audiences knew that Lillie had stolen the routine from Cicely Courtneidge. We also get here another of Lillie's stage schticks: she is seen standing still on stage, wearing a formal gown that reaches to the floor, entirely concealing her feet. With much pomp, Lillie recites a dignified speech ... then she hikes up her skirt to reveal that she's wearing roller skates, and she skates merrily away. That's about as funny as this movie gets. It doesn't help that Lillie is physically unattractive. She looks like a cross between Norma Shearer and Jughead Jones. Mary Carlisle, Bing's love interest here, is blonde and pretty but dull as dishwater.

Bea Lillie simply didn't have enough material to carry a starring role in a feature film, but there's enough of her on offer here to seriously weaken 'Dr Rhythm' as a Bing Crosby vehicle. Usually, when an important stage performer makes a rare screen appearance, I commend the film for preserving the performer's act. In this case, 'Dr Rhythm' serves the useful function of proving that Bea Lillie wasn't very funny. I can't recommend this movie to anyone but Bing Crosby completists, for whom I'll rate it just 1 point out of 10.

"Only a Gypsy Knows'

[theowinthrop · 8/10 · 27 May 2005]

This is one of the large number of Paramount musicals for "Der Bingle" in the 1930s and 1940s, that are mostly pleasant feasts for lovers of his crooning, entertaining in their own right, but forgettable after watching. They all have high points in them, but the films that people remember for showing Crosby the actor were made after 1940. Then came his pair of performances as Father O'Malley, his visit to the court of Franz Joseph in THE EMPEROR'S WALTZ, and eventually movies like THE COUNTRY GIRL and HIGH SOCIETY. Perhaps the best to say about the early Crosby films was they gave him the training to become the fine serious actor he turned into. They also were adequate comic training for his series of "Road" films with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour.

The best portions of this film (aside from Crosby's singing) is Bea Lillie's comic points. Although she would have a long film career (she was, if you recall, the villain in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE in the middle 1960s) Ms Lillie's basic career was as a satirist and stage clown. With her ladylike ways and soft speech she would sit on stage singing a song about "Fairies at the Bottom of My Garden", and suddenly you were listening to a devastating criticism about modern culture. That was never (as far as I know) put on film. But her routine about buying "a Dozen Double Damasque Dinner Napkins" (from poor, flustered Franklin Pangborn) gradually roles off their betwixt and be-twiddled tongues as "a dibble dizen madeques riddle nipkins" or whatever they come up with. She also does a lovely spoof of gypsy love songs, "Only a Gypsy Knows", that includes her bashing around with a tambourine, and yelling a friendly "Hiya!" at one point. I recommend the film for fans of "Der Bingle", but also for those masters of tongue-twisted, genteel comedy, Lillie and Pangborn.

Dear Doctor Crosby

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 9 August 2004]

Back in 1938 Gonzaga University which Bing Crosby attended, but never graduated from, decided to honor their most famous student with an honorary doctorate. For several weeks on Bing's Kraft Music Hall, guests and cast member ribbed him unmercifully about the degree and called him Doctor Crosby. So coincidentally when Paramount adopted and updated the O Henry story, The Badge of Patrolman O'Roon which is about a doctor and a policeman exchanging jobs, it seemed a natural to get doctor into that title somewhere.

Bing plays Doctor Bill Remsen who due to some hilarious circumstances has to exchange jobs with friend NYPD patrolman Larry O'Roon for the day. O'Roon is played by Andy Devine and his assignment for the day is to bodyguard heiress Mary Carlisle. Mary has a ditzy aunt who is played by Beatrice Lillie in one of her very few screen appearances.

Since this a Bing Crosby Paramount picture in the late 1930s, I suppose you can say that Bea Lillie's function her is to be the comic female like Martha Raye had previously served. But she was far more than that. One of the great stage acts in both Europe and America, Bea Lillie's comedy could be best described as a sort of sophisticated slapstick. Movie audiences in the those red states never quite took to her, but thank God that Doctor Rhythm preserves the artistry of a very great talent.

Bea Lillie has several high points, her famous double damask dinner napkins routine with Franklin Pangborn, her tilt a whirl in Doctor Remsen's medical office with Andy Devine and finally her Only A Gypsy Knows Number with Crosby in support. Support is not something Bing did in his films, but he does so here and gladly. Bing respected Bea Lillie's talent a great deal and had her as a guest on his radio program a few times over the years.

Louis Armstrong was supposed to be in Doctor Rhythm, but Paramount in regard to southern racial feelings unfortunately cut his numbers out of the film.

Mary Carlisle did her third and last film with Bing Crosby tying her with Martha Raye for second most appearances by a female performer in a Crosby film. Only Dorothy Lamour with all those Road picture credits and Dixie appeared in more.

The rest of the cast fills their roles out nicely. Bing was given three songs to sing, My Heart Is Taking Lessons, On the Sentimental Side, and This Is My Night To Dream by Jimmy Monaco and Johnny Burke. The first song was the one that became the hit from Doctor Rhythm.

A nice bill of health for Doctor Crosby er Rhythm.

you'll enjoy it

[westerfield · 8/10 · 26 January 2013]

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!

Looking for a copy

[joesftwrk · 9/10 · 30 August 2000]

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