So You're Going to Have an Operation (1950) Online

This is simply one of the funniest Joe McDoakes comedies, though it's tone and style is very different...which is unusual since the films were all written and directed by Richard Bare.

When the story begins, Joe wakes up at night and decides to eat a snack. Considering what he eats, it's not surprising he'd have a stomach ache. However, he's inexplicably taken to the hospital and a quack of a doctor advises him he must have an operation...his appendix is about to burst. Before he has a chance to tell the doc that he's already had his appendix removed, he's knocked out and headed to the operating table. And, this keeps happening again and again! The doctors are all morons with dubious skills...and poor Joe is the recipient of their blundering. It's all very funny and a bit surreal...but also loads of fun and silliness.

Incidentally, you don't see Mrs. McDoakes in this one...and the ending is just amazing!!

WELL, THIS ONE did manage to fool us a little. It turned out just a little more serious (if that's the proper word) than one might have expected. It's beginning is in as old and unoriginal and predictable a situation a there is. That would be the old gag about the overeater retiring for the night only to find his gastric juices in full revolt in his stomach.

THIS LEADS TO the hospital and some emergency surgeries as performed by various physician-surgeons, as performed by the likes of comic actors Fritz Feld and Frank Nelson. This is followed with a succession of hospital-type gags, not unlike those essayed by the 3 Stooges some 17 or so years ago.

AS FOR THE fade out and finish, the storyline veers sharply, which led to some totally unexpected finishing gag.

WHAT WE SAID about this short's ability to fool us may need a little explanation. What we saw in the opening should have added up a certain way, but didn't. We had an insomniac in Joe Mc Doakes, himself. In order to cure his aversion to sleep, he raids the old ice box; bringing on the expected gag of the nightmare.

THIS FOLLOWED UP with the array of surgery-oriented gags made for a sort of dreamlike effect. From this one would expect to see him wake up, probably back in his own home, his bedroom and his own bed. Well, they fooled us with a different plot twist and story ending gag.

WHETHER OR NOT that this was their intent, they did manage to lose both Schultz and his best buddy, namely Me!

So You're Going to Have an Operation (1950)

*** (out of 4)

Joe McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) is having trouble sleeping so he goes to the kitchen where he ends up overeating and having a major stomach ache. He goes to the hospital where a zany doctor decides to operate and operate and operate again. This spoof of doctors and the medical field is pretty funny and manages to get quite a few laughs in its short running time. The best sequence deals with McDoakes getting well only to have the doctors discover another issue, which seems to have been a common joke back in the day just like it is today. O'Hanlon is at the top of his game delivering another fine performance and Fritz Feld is also quite good as the doctor. Fans of the series know what to expect from these movies and this one here fits all the typical rules and laughter.