Blu Ray Review: Three More W.C. Fields Classics from Kino Lorber

Kino-Lorber's classics division has been notable for offering some of the great movies of classic Hollywood featuring its most beloved stars. Some of the greatest blu ray releases in recent years have been the nicely restored films of the great W.C. Fields. This latest set of films includes three of Fields’ finest comedies from his Paramount and Universal periods. Each film is sold separately and will therefore be reviewed separately with links to where they can be ordered.

YOU’RE TELLING ME (1934)

A talkie remake of the W.C. Fields silent feature So’s Your Old Man, You’re Telling Me is an improvement on the previous film with dialog adding more depth to the proceedings. But there is still plenty of physical comedy, as Fields plays Sam Bisbee, a small town druggist who hopes to someday hit it big with his inventions. A rather boorish working class sort, Bisbee is well meaning but always seems to humiliate his long suffering wife, and his hapless daughter who is in love with a man who comes from a wealthy family. The young man’s family does not approve of Bisbee, and thus is our conflict. Fields plays a character that is more the tragic Everyman than the irascible sort of later films, and it works effectively, especially when, on a train ride when his life hits rock bottom, he becomes friends with a woman who turns out to be a Countess and is suddenly an important man in town. Some of the visual gags are riotously funny, while the situations are as poignant as they are amusing. Buster Crabbe, who plays the young man, told me in a 1980 interview: "Bill drank all day and never showed it, I don't know how he did it. He almost enverforgot his lines, and if he did, he would ad-lib something funnier than what was in the script." One of Fields’ best films, it can be ordered here: TELLING

MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE (1935)

Another hilarious and poignant story of Ambrose Wolfinger, a hard working Everyman who has to deal with a shrewish wife, her demanding mother, and her shiftless brother who is so lazy he takes a nap after eating breakfast. His only support is his daughter, who loves him and believes in him. Based loosely on his silent film Running Wild, Man on the Flying Trapeze is an absurd classic. In order to take the day off work to go see a wrestling show, Ambrose tells his firm that his mother-in-law has died. When he gets home, he discovers several cards of condolence and flowers have been sent to the home. It is one of W.C. Fields best and most timeless films, as well as his most serious and introspective. “It must be hard to lose your mother-in-law.” “Yes, it is practically impossible.” This wonderful comedy can be ordered at this link: TRAPEZE

YOU CAN’T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN (1939)

The radio feud between W.C. Fields and Edgar Bergen’s dummy Charlie McCarthy is put on film in this wild Universal comedy with Fields as carnival huckster Larson E. Whipsnade who balks when his pretty daughter falls for Edgar. Fields is at his best as he puts on shows such as two ordinary men whom he promotes as The World’s Tallest Midget and The World’s Shortest Giant. Bergen has gotten some negative attention for moving his mouth visibly via his ventriloquism, but his timing between his voice and Charlie’s and his manipulating of the dummy is really quite brilliant and the reason why he is still considered the best. Eddie “Rochester” Anderson also appears. Whipsnade attending a party of stuffed shirts, engaging in a wild ping pong game and relating a story about big game hunting and snakes are among the many highlights. This blu ray includes a fun commentary by Michael Schlesinger. The blu ray can be ordered at this link: WHIPSNADE

All three of these blu rays are absolutely essential inclusions for any video library, professional or personal, as they represent some of the best work by one of the screen’s funniest comedians.