Pure Feud (1934) User Reviews

Typical Bergen and McCarthy nonsense

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 25 January 2020]

Back in the 1930s and 40s, Edgar Bergen and his mannequin Charlie McCarthy were a hot item. Not only did they make a few full-length films and shorts, they were very popular on the radio...which is odd for an act involving a ventriloquist and his dummy. But the personality of Charlie McCarthy was so established that folks wanted more and more of him and his antics.

"Pure Feud" finds Edgar Bergan headed to the hills where he wanders into the middle of a Hatfield/McCoy type feud. In this case, it's the Jenkins-McCarthy feud and Charlie spends most of the time hiding instead of shooting.

This is enjoyable and pretty typical of a Bergen-McCarthy film with some bad jokes (they were meant to be) and Charlie being his usual rascally self. Not bad but not the best the team had to offer either.

Pure Fued is an Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy short with a brief appearance of Shemp Howard

[tavm · 5/10 · 30 June 2019]

This Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy short has an early film appearance of Shemp Howard. Shemp plays one of the feuding family members who eat together during dinner when they're not shooting each other! If you're familiar with the banter of Edgar and his dummy, you'll find some of the lines amusing like I did but I didn't find any of those lines hilarious. Still, Pure Fued is worth a look and nothing more.

"Did you see the English he put on that bullet?"

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 18 February 2008]

I'd seen any number of appearances by Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy back in the 1950's on variety shows, but never knew they appeared in film shorts like the one presented in "Pure Feud". It's actually a pretty entertaining vehicle, and without the one on one banter between ventriloquist and dummy on a variety stage, it's almost easy to forget that McCarthy is a wooden character when set in an ongoing story. The backdrop to this one is a classic hillbilly feud between the McCarthy's and the Jenkins', and it's a bit curious to see the rules enforced in the proceedings. There's a strict eight hour time limit imposed on a daily basis with breaks for dinner when the feuding principals check their weapons before they can eat. For 1934, this one reeler showed a lot more imagination and creativity than a whole host of films from the period. They even managed to squeeze in a pretty blonde (Vicki Cummings) impersonating Edgar Bergen's sister, Miss Appletree.

I don't know how one would ever get around to seeing this short unless you were lucky enough to catch it on Turner Classics or a similar cable channel for vintage material. It just happened to follow a Jimmy Cagney film I obtained from a private collector, otherwise I never would have known it existed. I guess it goes along with being in the right place at the right time.

"Lunch is over--get your guns . . . !"

[cricket30 · 7/10 · 18 June 2019]

. . . declares "Ma McCarthy" after a brief interlude to fork pork during the otherwise steady fusillades of PURE FEUD. This live-action short bears out the fact that the USA truly is "One Nation, under God." As it says frequently throughout the Good Book, Rule #1 for Right Club is to "Shoot thy neighbor, as thyself." America the Beautiful leads the Universe in BOTH the "Citizens shot by others" and "Citizens shot by themselves" categories. While the malcontents and misfits in foreign lands must stew in their own juices when Life deals them from the bottom of the deck due to their region's antiquated gun laws, PURE FEUD demonstrates the American Way to let off steam: Just grab a gun, and blast away! Sadly, many U.S. citizens lack the financial resources to readily enjoy using their Second Amendment Safety Valve. While the American Constitution contains not a single word on the subject of "food stamps," it DOES give EVERY man, woman, and child the "Right to bear arms." So watch PURE FEUD, which will no doubt inspire you to support your local chapter of BANGS (Broke Americans Need Gun Stamps)!

"What are you shooting?" "I'm shooting Jenkins." "What are Jenkins?" . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 7/10 · 31 March 2021]

. . . "Our neighbors," Charlie McCarthy remarks near the beginning of PURE FEUD. I once lived next to some Jenkins, and it was no picnic. Trash, noise, animal-hoarding fumes--any kind of pollution the human mind can dredge up, they produced it. No one dared report these pernicious Jenkins to the city code enforcement department, because the jerks in question not only fervently believed that "Snitches get stitches," but they actually sewed their victims up themselves before the paramedics could arrive. (Needless to say, none of them would win any blue ribbons for needlework at a county fair.) To add in salt to injury, the darn Jenkins kept enough Doomsday supplies on hand that every time the S. W. A. T. team arrived to take one of them away, the ensuing stand-off would shut down our neighborhood for at least a week. Fortunately, the tear gas canisters fired through their windows in an attempt to curtail the last Jenkins siege on Day 23 set their hoard of three decades' newspapers on fire, and they all burned to a crisp.

This may not have killed vaudeville, but it sent it to intensive care!

[mark.waltz · 1/10 · 5 December 2014]

You can't expect a lot in a 10 minute short, but if this is any indication of the quality of them, you can guarantee I'd be visiting the snack bar/bathroom while these were on. I've seen a few of the Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy comedy shorts, and none of them have been very good, which is odd because they were very funny in the full-length features I've seen them in.

There's virtually no plot, merely the set-up of Bergen arriving to discover a feud going on, and his conversation of attempted comedy with McCarthy. To say Charlie gives a wooden performance is an understatement, and his jokes left me with splinters. It's obvious when Bergen introduces himself as Mr. Applegate, McCarthy will call him something else like "Mr. Applesauce". The writers must have been sauced to think this would be funny, and if it was in 1934, it was definitely eye-rolling by the time T.V. came along. Then, for some reason, McCarthy pulls out his school report card and a few minutes of dialog are devoted to going through each of the classes he got a "D" in, including spelling where McCarthy basically states he doesn't need to know how to spell spinach since he doesn't like it.

As for the feud, there's not even a dialog to indicate what the two clans are feuding over and why they sit down to lunch together then get back up and continue. McCarthy would do much better when he got the opportunity to make insulting remarks about a big nosed comedian who often asked who stole the cork out of his lunch.

I love classic short comedies...

[microx96002 · 4/10 · 6 January 2022]

However Edgar Bergin and Charlie McCarthy definitely were funnier on radio, but their short movies were not up to much. Especially this one, which even having the great Shemp Howard in it can't save it! Dull, just pure dull!

Hillbilly Humor

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 17 April 2006]

A VITAPHONE Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy Short Subject.

It's a PURE FEUD carried out between the McCarthys and the Jenkins into which city boy Edgar Appleby inadvertently stumbles .

This was one of a series of short films highlighting the remarkable talent of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. His wisecracking dummy, Charlie McCarthy, effortlessly steals the show. Movie mavens will recognize Shemp Howard as one of the McCarthy kin.

***************************

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

A Few Nice Laughs

[Michael_Elliott · 31 October 2010]

Pure Feud (1934)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Edgar Appletree (Edgar Bergen) arrives in a small town with his sister. He's there to get some peace and quiet but he soon bumps into Charlie McCarthy who tells him that his family has been feuding with the Jackson's for many years now and things don't appear to be getting any more civil. I've seen nearly ten or so of these Bergen/McCarthy shorts and you never really know what you're going to get with them as some are charming and others are just downright annoying. This here made me laugh quite a few times so needless to say I'd rank this as one of the better ones. I thought the setting was a pretty good one and the screenplay actually manages to get some nice one-liners in as McCarthy tries to explain why this feud is needed. The jokes about shooting one another were actually pretty funny as was the scene where McCarthy tries flirting with the sister.