Dizzy Doctors (1937) User Reviews

one of their best executed shorts

[cinefool · 9/10 · 26 June 2005]

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.

Bright-o comedy featuring the Stooges

[jimtinder · 8/10 · 30 June 2003]

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.

Classic Stooges Material

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 1 September 2010]

"I haven't a new dress since we've married!"

"Well, we've only been married five years." - Larry

This classic Three Stooges short (because it contains a lot of famous gags they liked to do) also features two big actors who were favorites with them: Vernon Dent and Bud Jamison. Those guys were always a hoot, especially Jamison, although Dent was in more of the pictures. They usually wound up chasing the Stooges after the latter had done something to them. In here, it's ruin their shoes and clothes as the Stooges sell a product (Brighto") that destroys things, not helps, as advertised. This is supposed to be medicine, but it takes the paint off cars! Who would drink this stuff?? (you can guess).

Anyway, the boys wind up trying to peddle the deadly juice (and hilariously work the PA system) in the "Los Arms Hospital," where one guy is in there for "dandruff." Don't ask.

At the beginning and end are sleeping scenes with the Stooges that should get some laughs out of you. The quote at the beginning was when one of the wives (who all worked while the Stooges slept until 11 each day, ate breakfast and then went back to bed!), had had enough and the boys were threatened to find work or forget the marriages.

It's all lunatic fun and represents the Stooges in their peak years.

Classic Mayhem from the Guys Who Did It Best

[mrb1980 · 9/10 · 14 December 2008]

The Three Stooges made many classic short films during their peak period of 1934-1944, and it seems like they all had the same ingredients: the three boys are ne'er-do-wells, they become involved in a get-rich-quick scheme that backfires, they spend most of the film on the run, and they manage to enrage any number of authority figures while destroying almost everything in sight.

Here, the Stooges are lazy husbands who are ordered by their wives to find work or move out of the house. They land jobs selling "Brighto", a patent medicine that they believe is a spot remover. After ruining a policeman's (Bud Jamison) uniform and a hospital administrator's (Vernon Dent) new car, the Stooges discover the true medical purpose of Brighto. They invade the Los Arms Hospital ("There must be lots of sick people in there!" Moe yells), and proceed to wreak havoc throughout the building. After removing a patient's hair with Brighto, serenading the hospital via the PA system, and leading a wild chase involving Dent (again), the boys escape down the street on a gurney, finally ending up back at home—sound asleep.

Though not as familiar to non-Stooge audiences as "A-Plumbing We Will Go", "Healthy, Wealthy, and Dumb", and "An Ache in Every Stake", "Dizzy Doctors" is a Stooges classic with true belly laughs throughout. The scenes in Los Arms Hospital—particularly those with Vernon Dent—are side-splittingly funny. Your taste for this film will of course depend on your taste for the Stooges…of course I think it's hilarious.

PS—Best line (Brighto Inventor, to the Stooges): "You idiots! That's medicine!"

"You idiots! That's medicine!"

[slymusic · 19 August 2005]

"Brighto! Brighto! Makes old bodies new!" "We'll sell a million bottles!" "Woo woo-woo-woo woo woo woo!" Ah yes, these words are a familiar chant of three overly enthusiastic salesmen hired to sell the miracle medicine Brighto. It's the Stooges, of course, and their irate spouses demand them to get a job selling the stuff or they will divorce them. Long-term Stooges supporting actor Vernon Dent makes his third appearance with the boys in "Dizzy Doctors," and by this time his reputation as a heavyset foil for the Stooges has been tightly established.

Highlights from this wonderful short include the following (but make sure you watch the film first before reading further): Hospital superintendent Dr. Harry Arms (Dent) and two of his assistants chase the Stooges around the hospital corridors (you will notice, though, that the scene is a bit sloppy). Moe, Larry, and Curly take a moment to invade the hospital's intercom system; their fooling around with their voices on the loudspeaker naturally causes concern for the staff. Before they even enter the hospital, the boys try to sell Brighto, not knowing it's medicine, as an all-purpose household cleaning fluid; among other damages, it burns a hole in a policeman's uniform and removes paint from the car belonging to Dr. Arms. Perhaps the funniest scene in the picture is that of Larry trying to sell a bottle to the cop ("If you have a knick-knack with a nick in it, we'll knock the nick out of the knick-knack with Brighto"); a nearby dog spots Larry trying to trick the cop (Bud Jamison) into believing he's a cripple, and the dog chews on Larry's "missing" leg.

In conclusion, "Dizzy Doctors" is well worth seeing, if only to enjoy witnessing all the trouble the Stooges get into.

great Stooges short

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 28 October 2019]

Larry, Curly, and Moe are three lazy idiots. Their hard-working wives push them to get jobs. They start selling Brighto which "Brightens Old Bodies". The boys think that it's a cleaning polish product. After some mishaps, the owner tells them that it's medicine and the boys try to sell it to a hospital. All the while, they are collecting enemies along the way.

This is pure Three Stooges causing havoc and mayhem where ever they go. It's an 18 minute short. Fans will love this. Bandwagoners will enjoy it. The story is simple and the characters fit the boys. It's been 3 years since their parting from Healy and joining Columbia. It is everything one expects from the boys at their best.

Vintage Slapstick Comedy

[StrictlyConfidential · 7/10 · 6 July 2021]

"Dizzy Doctors" was originally released back in 1937.

Anyway - As the story goes - The Stooges' wives have issued a warning: You snooze, you lose. So they get a job selling miracle medicine, but it'll be a miracle if they can sell it.

One of the funniest!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 9 March 2003]

Arguably the funniest episode ever from the Stooges!I love it when the Stooges get in the hospital!Vernon Dent and Bud Jamison are really good in this one.The Stooges' wives are very different.This is a great one to check out!

One of the better entries in this series!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 26 February 2018]

Curly Howard, Moe Howard, Larry Fine (themselves), Vernon Dent (doctor), Bud Jamison (policeman), June Gittelson, Eva Murray, Ione Leslie, Louise Carver, Ella McKenzie, Cy Schindell, Wilfred Lucas, Eric Bunn, Frank Mills, Harley Wood, A.R. Haysel, Betty MacMahon, William Irving, Frank Austin, Robert "Bobby" Burns, Bert Young.

Director: DEL LORD. Screenplay: Al Ray. Story: Charlie Melson (sic). Photography: Benjamin Kline. Film editor: Charles Nelson. Western Electric Sound System. Associate producer: Jules White.

Copyright 10 March 1937 by Columbia Pictures Corp. of California. 2 reels. (Available on an excellent Sony DVD).

COMMENT: With an extensive support cast helping out, our trio try to sell "Brighto", a patent medicine which they initially mistake for a stain remover - with predictable results on a policeman's uniform and a doctor's limousine!

Needless to say, it all climaxes with some frantic chases through hospital corridors. Definitely one of the better entries in the series.

The Stooges Revisit The Hospital From an Earlier Short

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 28 September 2023]

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.

Not a lot of brightness in these 18 minutes

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 12 April 2017]

"Dizzy Doctors" is an 18-minute live action short film from 1937, so this one has its 80th anniversary this year and the director Del Lord probably tells many that this is another Three Stooges short film, actually one of their earlier works. World War II hasn't started yet, so this is a relatively unpolitical little movie. Slapstick is the usual as in other Stooges films, but the story is even worse I must say and the plot feels so random hat I would call it not only over the place, but almost non-existent. The trio pose as salesmen this time. Surprised this is among the more known Stooges works, at least in terms of short films. Oh yeah, Curly is on board here still. I think the comedy hasn't aged really well, not just with this one here, but with Stooges comedy in general, but that's just my opinion. And this one here is even weaker than most of their other works, which is why I think 4 stars out of 10 is still a bit on the generous side. One reason may also be that the two writers have not or hardly at all worked on other Stooges scripts. Overall verdict: Thumbs down. Don't watch.

Classic

[Michael_Elliott · 25 January 2009]

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.

"it's for sale"

[RainDogJr · 2 March 2009]

Like two weeks ago I found and bought a DVD of The Three Stooges. "Dizzy Doctors" is the title of the DVD and it includes the following short films: Dizzy Doctors (1937), Termites of 1938 (1938), Brideless Groom (1947), Listen Judge (1952), Bubble Trouble (1953) and The Tooth Will Out (1951).

I'm not very familiar with The Three Stooges and I just saw the first one from the DVD, Dizzy Doctors, and it was an entertaining 17 minutes short with some nice laughs but overall nothing really fantastic.

Here the situation is more than simple for the Stooges: or they get a job and stop sleeping the entire day or they will not have wives any more. Ad the problem will not be getting a job actually, they will become salesmen of a product called Brighto but what is that product? What is its use? The Stooges had those questions when they were starting to sell it and Moe had for Larry and Curly a pretty damn good answer: "it's for sale". Some funny issues while they are selling Brighto as whatever thing except as what it is that is a medicine, certainly by when they will realize about that fact they will have already caused problems to some people and they will cause to some more.

Before the Stooges went out we had some pretty good laughs as when they were selling Brighto as whatever thing, as I wrote, and for me one of the funniest parts of this short is when they use Brighto to solve the dandruff problem of a man, and they actually solve the problem, sure the man now has no hair but the dandruff problem is over, right? Overall this is good, fun stuff and by the end, the Stooges resting again.