Doctor's Orders Review: A goofy Hal Roach short that still works

Is this worth your time?

If you like watching people fall over and make really bad decisions for love, then yeah, you should watch this today.

It is short, fast, and basically a cartoon with real people.

People who hate old-fashioned slapstick or guys acting like total idiots will probably find this annoying.

But if you grew up on The Little Rascals or anything from the Hal Roach studio, this feels like a warm, dusty blanket. 🍿

The whole plot is just Mickey Daniels and the gang being desperate.

They want the girls to pay attention to them, so they figure 'hey, let's pretend we are dying.'

It is a classic terrible idea that only works in movies like this.Mickey Daniels has this face that just looks like he’s constantly about to yell.

And he does. He yells a lot.

The girls, like Dorothy Granger and Mary Kornman, are mostly there to look concerned and then look extremely annoyed later on.

There is this one scene where they are setting up the 'accident' that feels like it was filmed in a real hurry.

The lighting is a bit weird and you can tell they are just on a backlot somewhere in California.

I love how cheap some of the props look.

The bandages they use later look like they just ripped up some old bedsheets five minutes before the camera started rolling.

Grady Sutton is in this too, and he is always the secret weapon of these shorts.

He has this blank stare that makes everything funnier without him even saying a word.

He just looks so confused to be there.

One part that really stuck out to me was the physical comedy with the 'stretchers.'

They drop a guy and it looks like it actually hurt, which is the best kind of slapstick.

It reminds me a bit of the energy in A Tough Winter where everything is just a bit chaotic.

The pacing is high-speed. It doesn't stop to explain why these boys are so dumb.

They are just dumb. That is the whole joke.

I noticed a small detail in the background during one of the street scenes.

There is a car that looks like it is about to stall out, and the driver is clearly trying to stay out of the shot.

It's these little mistakes that make these old films feel more alive than the polished stuff we get now.

Sometimes the dialogue is a bit hard to hear because the sound tech back in 1930 was basically a tin can and some string.

But you don't really need to hear the words to get the point.

The boys fake a crash. The girls show up with medicine. The boys try to look pathetic.

It’s simple stuff, but it works because the actors are committing 100% to the bit.

It’s not quite as polished as something like The Little Giant, but it has more heart in its pinky finger.

There is a moment where Edgar Kennedy shows up and his slow burn is just... perfect.

Nobody does frustrated anger like that guy. His hands just start twitching.

I think the movie gets a lot better once the girls realize they are being played.

The 'treatments' they start giving the boys are pretty brutal for a comedy.

I found myself actually cringing a little bit at one of the needles.

It’s a very human movie, even if the situations are totally fake.

You can see the actors almost breaking character and laughing in the background of some shots.

Especially David Sharpe, who is basically a human rubber ball.

The way he moves is almost scary sometimes.

It’s not a masterpiece, and it’s definitely not 'important' cinema.

But it is a good way to spend twenty minutes if you’re feeling bored.

It feels like a relic from a time when movies were just trying to make you spit out your popcorn.

The ending is a bit abrupt, like they just ran out of film and decided to stop.But I kind of liked that. No long speeches. Just a fast exit.

If you enjoy this, you might also like Laugh That Off for that same kind of 'let's just put on a show' energy.

Anyway, watch it for Grady Sutton’s face. It’s worth it just for that.