I could watch the lengthy chase sequence ar the end of this film over and over and laugh hysterically at the site gags. That's the highlight of this big hearted Jerry Lewis farce that reunites him once again with Kathleen Freeman. Veteran 30's brassy blonde Glenda Farrell, in her last screen role, plays the gentle chief of staff at the hospital Lewis works at as an orderly, sharing with brash nurse Freeman why she has a soft spot for the clumsy Lewis. The big hearted Jerry finds out that troubled suicidal patient Susan Oliver is about to be transferred to the local general hospital since she has no money to pay her bill and works nearly around the clock to secretly help her out. Sweet nurse Karen Sharpe is in love with Lewis herself, and misunderstandings keeps them from getting together as does a misunderstood kiss Sharp's he's going on between Lewis and Oliver. This leads to the hysterical chase sequence at the end where the nasty head of the hospital board, Everett Sloane, is trapped on a stretcher in the back of the ambulance that Lewis is driving to get to Sharp to explain the misunderstanding. Another ambulance has Farrell and Freeman chasing after them, emphasis on the fact that when she was in the Army, Freeman drove a tank!
Freeman's nurse is the epitome of the serious no nonsense medical professional, represented on the daytime soap opera "General Hospital" at the time by the rigid nurse Lucille March, nicknamed Sarge. That could be the nickname for Freeman's character here too, because the more humorless she becomes, the funnier she is! An angry patient throws a cup of pudding at Lewis, hitting Freeman in the face, and after having dealt with a hefty sleeping patient trying to change her sheets, this breaks the usually controlled Freeman into a hysterical valley of tears. Farrell, who played many wisecracking gold-diggers with Joan Blondell in the 1930s, is the total antithesis here, although she does get a few cracks in at the nasty Sloane whose character certainly deserves the fate that he gets in the hysterical conclusion.
As for all Oliver, it was difficult to sympathize with her after her initial breakdown scene because she is completely rude to Lewis who only wants to try to make her feel better. There is a background story explained for Lewis's feelings for Oliver, but after seeing how she treated Luis, it is difficult to have any sympathy for her character. Sharps sweet nurse is much more deserving of his love. The chase sequence which closes the film out and lasts about 10 minutes is up there with the comic chase sequences in "What's Up Doc", "Foul Play" and "The Blues Brothers". It utilizes scenes of the San Gabriel Valley very well and will have you in hysterics.
The cast of patients, doctors and nurses is rounded out with some very well known character actors, most notably Alice Pearce as a hypochondriac patient whose illnesses she believes are much more serious than any other patients in the hospital, the scene where she tells a patient of her ordeals while Lewis cringes in the background is hysterically funny. Veteran comic Jack Leonard has a funny moment as a crazy TV actor whom Lewis is ordered to get into a straight jacket with failing results. Blonde sexpot Barbara Nichols has a very funny Cameo where Lewis tries to fix her snowy TV.the film overall flows very quickly, has many laughs and Lewis manages to get through this without being too obnoxious in his attempts to out stage everybody and thus his character is much more likeable than normal. It is one of his films that I can watch over and over and still find many things to laugh at, something that I can't say about most of his films.
Freeman's nurse is the epitome of the serious no nonsense medical professional, represented on the daytime soap opera "General Hospital" at the time by the rigid nurse Lucille March, nicknamed Sarge. That could be the nickname for Freeman's character here too, because the more humorless she becomes, the funnier she is! An angry patient throws a cup of pudding at Lewis, hitting Freeman in the face, and after having dealt with a hefty sleeping patient trying to change her sheets, this breaks the usually controlled Freeman into a hysterical valley of tears. Farrell, who played many wisecracking gold-diggers with Joan Blondell in the 1930s, is the total antithesis here, although she does get a few cracks in at the nasty Sloane whose character certainly deserves the fate that he gets in the hysterical conclusion.
As for all Oliver, it was difficult to sympathize with her after her initial breakdown scene because she is completely rude to Lewis who only wants to try to make her feel better. There is a background story explained for Lewis's feelings for Oliver, but after seeing how she treated Luis, it is difficult to have any sympathy for her character. Sharps sweet nurse is much more deserving of his love. The chase sequence which closes the film out and lasts about 10 minutes is up there with the comic chase sequences in "What's Up Doc", "Foul Play" and "The Blues Brothers". It utilizes scenes of the San Gabriel Valley very well and will have you in hysterics.
The cast of patients, doctors and nurses is rounded out with some very well known character actors, most notably Alice Pearce as a hypochondriac patient whose illnesses she believes are much more serious than any other patients in the hospital, the scene where she tells a patient of her ordeals while Lewis cringes in the background is hysterically funny. Veteran comic Jack Leonard has a funny moment as a crazy TV actor whom Lewis is ordered to get into a straight jacket with failing results. Blonde sexpot Barbara Nichols has a very funny Cameo where Lewis tries to fix her snowy TV.the film overall flows very quickly, has many laughs and Lewis manages to get through this without being too obnoxious in his attempts to out stage everybody and thus his character is much more likeable than normal. It is one of his films that I can watch over and over and still find many things to laugh at, something that I can't say about most of his films.