The Eyes Have It (1931) User Reviews

Bergen - the perfect radio ventriloquist

[jtyroler · 4/10 · 5 May 2013]

Occasionally, during routines with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, "Charlie" would make comments about how Bergen's mouth would often move during their routines. You can see in this short, why Bergen and McCarthy were better suited for the radio. I would not be too surprised if the director had to take a few takes to get a better angle for filming Bergen to minimize showing his mouth moving during the times when he was voicing Charlie.

This is a cute little short from the early stages of Bergen's career. If you want a better idea why Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy were so popular in the pre-WWII days, you really need to listen to the surviving radio shows from The Chase and Sanborn Hour - particularly from 1937 where W.C. Fields would trade insults (and threats) with Charlie.

Amazing...a film short with no plot to speak of...

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 20 September 2008]

Charlie McCarthy is sent to the eye doctor (Bergen) for some reason that wasn't especially clear in the film. They have some gay banter and Charlie ogles Bergen's female assistant. Then, in the end, they inexplicably go fishing--ending the film with a rather lame gag right out of left field.

This short film was shown right after another Edgar Bergen film (Africa SPEAKS...English) on Turner Classic Movies. This was fortuitous because it allowed the viewer to compare the quality of the two short films. Whereas Africa SPEAKS...English was a cute little film with a pleasant story, THE EYES HAVE IT seemed like a series of gags linked with only the most tenuous of stories. It came off a bit more like a vaudeville act than a coherent story. Passable entertainment at best and not all that funny.

An Unintentionally Creepy Short

[evanston_dad · 4/10 · 2 June 2006]

This short film, featuring ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his famous character creation Charlie McCarthy, appears on the DVD release of "The Public Enemy." This was my first exposure to this popular comedy "team," and there's just no getting around how incredibly creepy Charlie McCarthy is. Ever since I saw "Magic," ventriloquist dummies have been ruined for me, and scenes of Charlie making suggestive and lewd comments to an optometrist's nurse don't help to sweeten the deal any.

Ahhhh....to think that there was a more innocent time when ventriloquist dummies and clowns did anything more than give people the willies.....

Sorry, Charlie: This Just Isn't That Funny

[ccthemovieman-1 · 10 February 2007]

This short feature is a vehicle for Edgar Bergen to do his famous ventriloquist routine with "Charlie McCarthy."

Edgar plays "Dr. Wilbur Grant," an eye specialist. Young "Charlie" is in his office with a note from his school teacher saying the kid needs glasses. Edgar performs several eye tests on him and shows him some glasses, one with windshield wipers on them! "Charlie," of course, has all the witty lines. The only problem was - at least with me - I didn't find any of them funny. I don't think too people today would laugh at any of this. Nonetheless, Charlie goes along with the doctor but really is only interested in the doctor's pretty assistant (Christina Graver) Charlie is one horny kid for only a nine-year-old!

I did laugh in the final seconds (literally) when the doctor and the kid went fishing and Charlie could put those windshield wiper glasses to good use. Otherwise, this was boring, to be honest.

One of the best 5-rated films on IMDb

[charlytully · 5/10 · 29 June 2009]

Among the million-plus items rated by the users of IMDb, hundreds of thousands have tallied ratings of 5 out of 10 or less, including THE EYES HAVE IT. Unlike many of the other lowly-ranked efforts, EYES is fairly benign, consisting of 10 minutes of fairly harmless ventriloquism. A glance at the five previous comments on EYES proves the sort of serious IMDb users who take the time to think and write comments generally are lukewarm toward EYES (the lone exception being a challenged person who somehow thinks a ventriloquist would make for good radio!), while the comment raters are like the neighbors of THE LITTLE RED HEN, who cannot be bothered to explain WHY they like EYES, but only have time to diss those who explain what they see as the shortcomings of EYES. Bottom line: don't watch EYES if you're a nuclear rocket scientist, but go ahead if you're the type of viewer who won't mind 10 minutes of mindless fun.

Charlie At The Eye Doctor

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 20 September 2008]

The greatest man at his art of ventriloquism made a series of shorts with his most popular alter ego during the Thirties. Even now it is amazing the way Edgar Bergen creates in that wooden dummy, a real character in Charlie McCarthy.

This very funny short subject has young Charlie McCarthy being sent to the optometrist for glasses. But little Charlie doesn't need any help in viewing shapely optometrist assistant Christina Graver. We have to remember that this short was made before The Code kicked into place, still some of Charlie's leering comments prove his wooden hormones are definitely kicking in.

Edgar Bergen was definitely on the way up and gain his greatest popularity on radio where his voices for Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd would make him a legend. Edgar would set the standard in his art, that no one else could emulate.

Fishing For Dummies

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 23 September 2003]

A Vitaphone EDGAR BERGEN Short Subject.

An eye specialist must examine a peculiar and most loquacious young fellow.

Master ventriloquist Edgar Bergen found a brief showcase for his talents in THE EYES HAVE IT, a humorous little film which provided some funny lines for wooden gadfly Charlie McCarthy. Unsurprisingly, McCarthy tends to dominate the proceedings. Talking films were the perfect medium for Bergen & McCarthy, although they would have an amazing success on the radio as well.

Christina Graver plays Bergen's pretty nurse.

Weak Story and No Laughs

[Michael_Elliott · 10 June 2016]

The Eyes Have It (1931)

** (out of 4)

If you're looking for a classic Charlie McCarthy short, well.... Well, I'm not sure you're ever going to find one. This one here has Edgar Bergen playing an eye doctor whose patient just happens to be McCarthy. Story-wise there's certainly nothing ground-breaking here and for the most part there is no story outside of the eye doctor setting. The short was obviously made to just showcase Bergen and his dummy but the act just didn't translate to the screen very well and especially here. I've always felt that the ventriloquist act was rather strange and creepy but I will admit that there was just something about it that made it slightly entertaining even if you weren't laughing at the material. There aren't any laughs to be had here so your level of entertainment will certainly depend on your feelings towards Bergen and McCarthy.