Dr. Farhat (1935) Review - Scratchy, loud, and surprisingly fun

If you have some spare time and want to see where modern Egyptian film comedy basically crawled out of, then yes, Dr. Farhat is absolutely worth your time. But look, if you cannot stand scratchy 1930s audio where everyone sounds like they are shouting through a tin can, you will probably hate this with a passion. 😅

It is basically a giant theatrical farce put on film. Togo Mizrahi, the director, pretty much just parks the camera in front of the actors and lets them sweat it out.

The plot is simple enough to explain on a napkin. Fawzi El Gazaerli plays this translator guy who gets mistaken for a wealthy doctor at a fancy hotel. Naturally, chaos happens because he has absolutely no idea what he is doing.

Honestly, the best part of the whole thing is Fawzi's physical energy. He uses his hands so much when he talks, I thought he was going to accidentally hit the other actors.

His chemistry with Ehsane El Gazaerli is just pure gold, even if half their jokes are just yelling at each other at the top of their lungs. They have this rapid-fire delivery that feels totally unscripted, like they are just trying to make each other laugh.

There is this one incredibly weird scene in the hotel lobby. A random extra in the background just stands there, staring directly into the lens for what feels like a solid ten seconds. Nobody edited this out! I love little mistakes like that in old cinema, it makes the movie feel alive.

It is definitely a different vibe compared to the heavy, serious stuff from that era, like The Living Corpse. While those films wanted to make you cry, Mizrahi just wanted to make people spit their popcorn out.

Sure, some of the jokes feel incredibly old-fashioned now. There is a lot of running around corridors and people hiding behind doors that gets a bit tiring after the fourth time.

"A translator pretending to be a doctor is always a recipe for disaster, especially when he starts prescribing weird things."

But the pure, unpolished energy of the cast keeps it from getting totally boring. If you enjoyed early slapstick or even the messy energy of Circus, you will find something to smile about here. Just don't expect a masterpiece. It is just a goofy, noisy relic of the past that still has some kick left in it. 🎬