As I mentioned earlier today, I had a tooth pulled yesterday, so today is a “sit around and relax to feel better” day. And what better way to feel better than with some classic comedy. This one streches w-a-y back to 1934, long before I was born. But a classic is a classic.
W.C.Fields made a series of comedies in the 30s and 40s. He frequently frustrated the movie censors of the day, who questioned his sarcastic grumpy mean-spririted funny banter and smartass asides and also found his drinking, dislike for children, and comic meanness as, well, less than appropriate material for a leading man in a comedy. But Fields was Fields and trying to make him more likable would have just dimished his character. Luckily, he still kept his crankiness and is remembered so many years later for his classics “The Bank Dick”, You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man:, My Little Chickadee (the censor-pushing comedy with Mae West, and others, including this film.
The plot is never very important in his films. It’s his character and the way he interacts with the rest of the world. And his character doesn’t change much from film to film. He drinks, lies, makes bad choices, and yet still somehow comes out well. His comic timing is perfect, and his sarcasm and verbal asides are funny, so pay attention to the dialog. Remember, the plot does not matter. You either like him or you don’t. If you don’t, you might just be missing the boat.
Here’s what one reviewer on Amazon had to say:
W. C. Fields is at his “man against the world” best in this hilarious comedy. The plot of grocery store operator Harold Bissonette (pronounced Bisso-NAY, please), who yearns for a California orange ranch, is secondary to the frequent moments of classic comedy. For sidesplitting laughter, check out Harold’s encounter with Mr. Muckle, the blind and deaf hotel detective who wreaks havoc in the grocery store. In addition, Harold trying to sleep on the porch swing is one of the greatest comedy scenes ever filmed. Aside from noisy neighbor disruptions, he suffers an assertive insurance salesman looking for Carl LaFong (“Capital ‘L,’ small ‘a,’ capital ‘F,’ small ‘o,’ small ‘n,’ small ‘g.’ LaFong!). Harold’s reaction to these various annoyances keeps the viewer in stitches. Harold’s shrewish wife and her scolding reaction to everything her husband says or does puts the “fun” in dysfunctional. Fields also has a couple of encounters with Baby LeRoy. Obnoxious children and their overbearing mothers are among Fields’ best targets for razor-sharp comedy. Even Harold and the family dog don’t get along. Harold threatens to replace the dog with an “iron” deer lawn ornament. Fields’ comic style stresses physical humor, sight gags, and his trademark asides. The comic side of drinking is part of his standard routine, good taste notwithstanding. Fans of W. C. Fields, classic comedy fans, and everyone who enjoys debunking the guises of stuffy respectability needs this movie for their personal movie collection. Recommended for multiple viewing. 😉
I won’t argue with that. The porch swing scene had me laughing out loud. This one is pretty good for a movie made 75 years ago, but I’d recommend buying the collection pictured at the top of this post. It has four of his other classsics too besides this one. I actually found it at CostCo a while back but haven’t seen it there recently. Heck, you might as well just check it out here. And while I’m at it, here are a few classsic Fields lines:
10 quick quotes from “Bank Dick” and “It’s a Gift”:
1) “Caught him on the first bounce!” (After gently bringing the ailing bank examiner through the hotel lobby up to his room, running back downstairs to the lobby out the front door, and again walking the bank examiner back through the hotel lobby)
2) Egbert: “Was I in here last night, and did I spend a twenty-dollar bill?” Bartender: “Why yes!” Egbert: “What a load that is off my mind! I thought I’d lost it!”
3) “See you got that door closed again” (Mr. Muckle the blind man after sticking his cane through Bissonette’s glass door)
4) “Capital L, small a, capital F, small o, small n, small g; LaFong; Carl LaFong”
5) “I’ll be sober tomorrow; you’ll be crazy the rest of your life”
6) “You’d like to have a nose like that full of nickels, wouldn’t you?” (Mother, to a young brat pointing at Fields’s prominent proboscis)
7) “The resale value of this car is going to be nil after this ride.”
8) “I’m very fond of children. Girl children, around eighteen, twenty”
9) Mrs. Sousé: “Don’t you dare strike that child!” Egbert Sousé: “She’s not gonna tell ME I don’t love her.”
10) Customer: “What do you have in the way of steaks”? Sousé: “Not a thing, I can get right to ’em”.
Have you seen this movie? Do you like W.C. Fields? Let me know here, my little chickadees, leave me a comment below.
