Popular reviews

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  Review by Curtis ★★½

  Completely nuts short starring Edgar Bergen, where he takes a retreat to the country for nerves, only to end up in the middle of an extremely civil feud between the Jenkins and the McCarthys. Edgar and Charlie McCarthy crack wise as hostilities are halted for lunch, and then the short abruptly ends.

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  Review by Joe ★★★½ 2

  Here's what I love about Edgar Bergen: He was the most famous ventriloquist in the world, and he's NOT EVEN A GOOD VENTRILOQUIST. His jaw practically moves more when he's speaking for Charlie than it does when he's speaking for himself, and the illusion of conversation between the two is so tissue-thin that the most impressive part of the sequence is always the unlucky third party who has to sit there and play along like nothing strange is going on (that would be Ms. Vicki Cummings here, who is an absolute pro of Okerlundian brilliance at playing straight in the face of madness).

  This short is fun because it has Shemp Howard speaking in a stereotypically rural dialect, and because it freely invites viewers to imagine the prospect of small wooden boy Charlie McCarthy having sex with a fully grown human woman.

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  Review by Puffin ★★★

  I am more than likely underrating this on the basis of it not really being much of anything - a quick nine minute shuffling together of players and setting to throw some gags around. Yet you cannot convince me this isn't a classic work of comedy genius - intentional and otherwise. A mediocre ventriloquist with about half of the film's jokes being weirdly esoteric and off-kilter. It almost feels like a deleted scene from a longer short or feature which is probably why I can't bump it up any higher - I suppose even for what I love about it, those things are a little less fun in fragments.

  Not a great short by any means, but you place it in the context of a Thomas Pynchon manuscript and it would be a highlight.

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  Review by Larry Yoshida ★★½

  Edgar Bergen and his sister (Vicki Cummings) head for a cabin in the hills so Edgar can cure his nerves. Unfortunately there's a full-on feud (with Charlie on one side). Nothing to do with the film, but why was a ventriloquism act so popular ON THE RADIO? Anyway, Shemp plays one of Charlie's kin.

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  Review by diegesis ★★

  “Lunch is over. Get your guns.”

  Mr. Appletree chose the wrong cabin during a 20-year-old gunfight feud between the Jenkins and McCathys to get a rest and work on his nerves.

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  Review by AlitaMcFly ★★½

  These Charlie McCarthy shorts have been a weird mix of wild comedy and creepy ventriloquism (is there completely non-creepy ventriloquism?). This short is a western of sorts where Charlie finds himself involved in a Hatfields/McCoys-style family feud. Watching a short or two with Charlie is worth it just to experience the 1930s oddity but more than that is unnecessary. "Pure Feud" does stand out a little bit in that a young Shemp Howard can be spotted in a smaller role.

  52/100. Watched on Watch TCM (Laptop; HD).

  Up Next: Man of Steel

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  Review by Quiller ★★½

  Another Vitaphone short featuring Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. This one has Bergen on a rural retreat for his nerves, only to get caught up in the Hatfield-McCoy ... I mean, Jenkins-McCarthy feud. It’s fairly typical of the pair’s shorts, with most of the wisecracking going on during the families’ lunch break. Shemp Howard and prolific character actor Will Wright (in his film debut) are identifiable. The best gag: one of the hillbillies speaks with a Jewish immigrant’s accent.