The Musical Doctor: Rudy Vallee's weirdest prescription

Is this worth watching today? Only if you have ten minutes to kill and a high tolerance for 1930s crooning. You will probably hate it if you prefer your movies to have, you know, actual plots or logic.

Rudy Vallee plays a doctor who thinks a catchy tune is better than a bandage. It is the kind of silly premise that only worked in the early sound era when everyone was just excited to hear people talk on screen.

The hospital set is incredibly cheap looking. You can almost see the walls wobbling when the nurses dance past them.

Speaking of nurses, they all move with this stiff, rehearsed energy. It is charming but also deeply weird to look at now.

There is one patient who is just lying there looking miserable until Rudy starts singing. Then, suddenly, the guy is bouncing in his bed like he never had a problem in his life.

The best part is easily Mae Questel. She was the voice of Betty Boop, and she brings that same squeaky, cartoonish energy to her scene here.

She has this one reaction shot where her eyes go wide and she looks genuinely startled by the music. It is probably the most honest moment in the whole ten minutes.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Musical Doctor (1932) through its definitive frames.

The songwriting by Samuel Lerner is... fine? It is mostly just rhymes that sound like they were written on a napkin during lunch.

It reminded me a little bit of the medical antics in Kill or Cure, but with way more glitter and hair gel. Rudy Vallee’s hair is a miracle of engineering; it does not move a single millimeter the entire time.

There is a scene where a whole group of people starts singing in harmony. It feels a bit like those segments in Dance Team, where the performance just takes over everything else.

The movie doesn't really end. It just sort of stops when they run out of songs to sing.

I noticed one extra in the background who looks like he is trying very hard not to laugh. He is just standing there with a clipboard, watching Rudy, and his mouth is twitching.

I love those little human mistakes. It makes the whole thing feel less like a product and more like a bunch of people messing around in a studio.

Don't go into this expecting a profound experience. It is just a goofy relic from a time when movies were still trying to figure out what they were supposed to be.

If you like old Vitaphone shorts, you'll find it amusing. If not, it will probably just give you a headache. 🎶