So You Want to Be Pretty

So You Want to Be Pretty (1956)

** (out of 4)

Joe (George O'Hanlon) and Alice (Phyllis Coates) play an ugly husband and wife who are suffering from deformed teeth that stick out. Both sneak out to have plastic surgery done to where their teeth are normal and they meet each other in a bar not knowing that they're actually already married. If you can believe the idea that a married couple can have their teeth fixed and then not know one another then you might laugh at this short. However, if like me that entire idea sounds extremely lame then you're probably not going to have much fun. I personally thought this was one of the weakest shorts in the series as there's not a single laugh to be had and the entire "meeting new people" stuff in the bar just came off very lame and unfunny. The only person who gets a single laugh was Lester Dorr who plays the bartender who can't believe the "poetry" coming from Joe's mouth. The stuff in the hospital isn't funny and once back at home the stuff isn't funny. The one good thing about this entry is that Coates returned as Alice after missing several films in the series. It was nice seeing her back in the part but sadly the weak screenplay just didn't give her much to do. This one here is certainly for die-hard fans of the series only.

.........AFTER SOME SABATICAL, our favourite Alice Mc Doakes is back in the fold!

AND WHAT AN unusual entry she chose for this "comeback!" We can't make up our mind if this is the sort of story that we'd get from O. Henry (THE GIFT OF THE MAGI) or maybe Rod Serling's TWILIGHT ZONE (THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER).

BUT ONE THING is for sure. The production team must have known something about Warner Brothers' discontinuing their production of short subjects and wanted Joe, Alice, Homer, Marvin, Mr. Battan and whoever was associated with this highly successful run of comedy shorts to go out with a bang!

TO BEGIN WITH, it seemed to be a premise adopted that was inherently steeped in poor taste. The branding of someone as being ugly is a cruel act and one that is largely if not totally subjective. It also creates a false sense of superiority on the accusing party and is deeply hurtful for those branded so.

ALL THIS BEING said, they did manager to do a highly amusing story; which contained many elements of parodying some of those romantic films. Such "mature" themes such as fun at the old watering hole (bar),the search for that "someone else" and extra marital relationships were all thrown into the mix.

BUT THE STORYLINE does manage to get our favourite couple back into good graces; albeit in a most unorthodox fashion. They also opt for using a bit of Hollywood history in finishing it up, for as Joe' facial bandages are removed by Dr. Butcher (Fritz Feld), you'd swear he was Claude Rains! (You gotta see it to get that last reference, Schultz!)

WE MUST MENTION a smaller supporting cast than usual consisting of: Iris Adrian, Lester Dorr, Diane Brewster, Frank Sully and Fritz Feld. Most players were not veterans of previous episodes.

Phyllis Coates is going away for a couple of weeks with her mother, and husband George O'Hanlon shakes her hand goodbye -- they each have hideous, protruding teeth. In truth, she going to plastic surgeon Fritz Feld to get her teeth fixed.... and so is George. When they get out, they go to a bar separately....and fall in love with each other.

It's an old comedy plot, dating at least back to D. W. Griffith in A MASKED BALL. The best-known take on it is the Charley Chase short MIGHTY LIKE A MOOSE, in which Charley has his teeth fixed, and movie wife Vivien Oakland has her nose fixed.

It's a typically funny entry in the JOE MCDOAKES series, and yes, Fritz Feld does his patented mouth-popping shtick.