Well Deserved Praise

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

W.C. twice is unjustly credited with foiling a bank robber's getting away , and in recovering the money. In truth, his part was incidental to the capture. Yet, he is showered by praise, a substantial monetary reward, and offer of a menial job as bank 'dick'(guard). In fact, in the second incident, instead of thwarting the robber in his role as bank dick, the robber uses him as a shield, then as his wheelman in his getaway. It's only when the getaway car is cornered by two other cars, and the robber somehow is knocked unconscious, that W.C.is proclaimed a hero. This anomaly may be seen as a satire on the standard Hollywood hero, and on the sometimes subtle distinction between a true heroic act and one that is merely passive or accidental. W.C is also extremely lucky in that the 'penny' goldmine stock he talked his prospective son-in-law into embezzling $500. from the bank to buy, suddenly turned into a bonanza. Apparently, the combination of the reward money, plus the selling of this stock made his extended family rich enough to buy a mansion, with servants, as we see in the finale... Thus, of the Horatio Alger formula for success: luck and pluck, W.C. shows that, at least in the short run, pluck may not be necessary(which we all know). Familiar-looking Russell Hicks is playing an atypical role for him of the con man who tried to sell the 'penny' goldmine stock to W.C., and ended up selling it to his future son-in-law.Bespeckled Frank Pangborn played the bank auditor, whose inopportune arrival caused Og to faint several times, as he hadn't yet replaced the $500. he had 'borrowed' from the bank. His presence also induced W.C. to unleash several schemes to delay his auditing activity until Og had received his $500. bonus.... Una Merkel played W.C.'s marriage-crazed teen daughter. Just what she saw in Grady Sutton(Og) is beyond me. Clearly, they were awaiting better financial prospects before marrying....Evelyn Del Rio plays W.C.'s pugnacious young daughter.The climax of the film is represented by the Keystone Kops-like car chase near the end. An even more elaborate chase is seen in W.C.'s last film "Never Give a Sucker a Break". At one point, the getaway car drives over a trench being dug by about 10 men, their raised pick axes being lowered in a strike just before the car was about to hit each. Later, a motorcycle cop rides into the trench, knocking each, in succession, into the air. This offers an interesting bit of choreography. I'm sure I've seen this stunt before, but I don't know where.Best one-liner:W.C.: "Is that gun loaded?" Mother of 'cowboy': "No, but I think you are" Most astonishing put down: An African American is behind W.C., in a bank teller line. The teller motions for W.C. to get out of the way, so he can serve the African American first.

W.C. Fields was invaluable as a comedian simply because he doesn't fit. Like Groucho or The Tramp or Mae West or Buster Keaton's stone face, Fields was such a strong personality that any situation or plot was simply an excuse to let him loose and see what kind of damage he could do.The first time that I saw Fields was in a bizarre 1933 short called The Fatal Glass of Beer. That was the one where he goes to the door of his snowbound cabin and proclaims "And it ain't a fit night out for man nor beast." Then is rewarded with a face-full of fake snow. That's also the one where he utters the immortal words "I think I'll go milk an Elk." From there, I set out to see everything of Fields that I could get my hands on. I have noticed an interesting thing: In nearly every film, in nearly every short film, he always plays the same character, the same irascible, mean-spirited little man who hates children and dogs and whose entire existence is the endless pursuit of the drink and the misadventure therein. The experience is something akin to hanging out with the bad kids at school, you can see them getting away with doing bad stuff but it is a fun journey even if you only sit on the sidelines.Of his features, The Bank Dick is my favorite. He wrote the screenplay himself but the credit went under his pseudonym Mahatma Kane Jeeves (say that name out loud slowly). Like most of the great comedians of the time, he was given control over his own project but still had to battle the Hays office over content. For instance, the Black Pussy Cat Cafe was written in the original script as The Black Pussy Cafe and Snack Bar. Joe Breen and the Hays office changed the name even though somehow the film's title remained.He plays henpecked Egbert Sousé, his usual lecherous drunk who accidentally foils a bank robbery and is offered a job as the bank's guard. A light bulb goes off in his brain to employ his good-for-nothing future son-in-law in an embezzlement scheme to siphon bank funds into a fly-by-night mining enterprise. From there, it is just one damn thing after another. The movie has no real structure and in any other comedy that would be a problem but for Fields it's just a series of set ups and comic pay-offs that have no real connection. Like The Marx Brothers, the plot is more or less an afterthought. The problem in describing Fields is that he can't really be described in words, he's an experience, not an explanation.The persona that Fields created has, today, fallen out of favor. After a brief revival in the 70s, the generation that followed has yet to discover him and I don't think they ever will. Today, in these politically correct times, Fields drunk act doesn't fit. We take alcoholism seriously and a man whose happy pursuit of the sauce frames his very existence doesn't seem in step with the times. But for me, I am bound to see comedy for what it is. If is makes me laugh, it's not my business whether it's politically correct or not. That's why Hollywood had such a problem with Fields, he didn't fit the good-natured mold they wanted to fashion for him.

one of the most fascinating movies of W. C. Fields , it has rare gift to be more than a good comedy but an admirable work in which each detail impress and seems be perfect. it is not a surprise because W. C. Fields himself represents an entire universe. result - a fresh film, splendid for dialogs and gags, for the performance of Franklin Pangborn and for the flavor of fairy tale. a film who reminds basic values of society without be a moral lesson or only fun. part of long chain of films about the good American , it has the art to be a pure gem , using each nuance of script in wise manner. a movie from a lost period. so, a message. or only one of the greatest performances by W. C. Fields.

W.C. Fields plays a henpecked husband who's a police officer in a bank. That's about it for plot! What happens is a string of disjointed and increasingly stupid escapades with Fields becoming a director and a hero for catching bank robbers.I've never seen a Fields film but heard that this one was one of the best. I tuned in and HATED it! I didn't laugh or even smile once! This is one of those early movies where alcoholism is treated as a big joke and violence is supposed to be side-splitting. Fields mumbles most of his lines which ends up making his jokes either inaudible or lifeless. At the end it seems the filmmakers gave up and just threw in a WILD car chase which goes on forever and also isn't funny. I realize Fields is considered a genius and his movies classics but this one totally escapes me.