Doctor Rhythm *** (1938, Bing Crosby, Mary Carlisle, Beatrice Lillie, Andy Devine) – Classic Movie Review 7388

Director Frank Tuttle’s 1938 Paramount Pictures black and white comedy musical Doctor Rhythm re-teams Bing Crosby and Mary Carlisle after College Humor (1933) and Double or Nothing (1937), and also stars Beatrice Lillie, Andy Devine and Laura Hope Crews. It is based by screen-writers Jo Swerling Sr, Richard Connell and Don Itheradge on the O Henry story The Badge of Policeman O’Roon.

The inimitable Beatrice Lillie inhabits the role of socialite Lorelei Dodge-Blodgett, who has a pretty young ward, Judy Marlowe (Mary Carlisle), with Dr. Bill Remsen (Bing Crosby) assigned as her bodyguard. As Bing Crosby scarcely looks the part of a bodyguard, it is lucky that his role is really a society doctor helping out his cop pal Police Officer Lawrence O’Roon (Andy Devine) by standing in for him. Crosby, naturally, soon falls for Carlisle.

Mary Carlisle.

Doctor Rhythm is appealing enough, but it is an all too easy-going, slackly handled romantic comedy with songs, with little more than Crosby’s professionalism and singing (‘On the Sentimental Side’ by James V Monaco and Johnny Burke, ‘My Heart Is Taking Lessons’ by James V Monaco and Johnny Burke, ‘This Is My Night to Dream’, and ‘Doctor Rhythm’), Carlisle’s charm, Lillie’s lovely dottiness and Franklin Pangborn’s fun as the store salesman to keep it going. But that may just be enough.

Doctor Rhythm is made by Emanuel Cohen Productions (as Major Pictures Corp) and released by Paramount Pictures.

Also in the cast are Rufe Davis, Fred Keating, John Hamilton, Sterling Holloway, Henry Wadsworth, William Austin, Gino Corrado, Harry Stubbs, Frank Elliott, Charles Moore, Louis Armstrong and Emory Parnell.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7388

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