The bank dick 1940 - A very funny all time classic

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IMDB rating: 7,4

Director: Edward F. Cline
Main Cast: W. C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel

"W. C. Fields plays Egbert Souse, a bibulous denizen of Lompoc who supports his family by winning radio contests. When a fleeing bank robber is knocked cold upon tripping over the park bench where Egbert sits, Souse is hailed as a hero and offered the job of bank guard. The next day, he is approached by one J. Frothingham Waterbury (Russell Hicks), who offers to sell Egbert shares in the Beefsteak Mines. Souse raises the necessary money by convincing bank clerk Og Oggilby (Grady Sutton), the fiance of Egbert's daughter Myrtle (Una Merkel), to 'borrow' some funds from the bank; it isn't really embezzling, explains Egbert, because the mine is bound to pay off. Unfortunately, bank examiner J. Pinkerton Snoopington (Franklin Pangborn) comes calling, spelling possible trouble for Souse.
The Bank Dick is perhaps W. C. Fields' best movie. Despite a scant 72-minute running time, it breezes through enough plot for ten lesser films, managing to build and double back on itself to a satisfying conclusion. The humor is both physical and intellectual. Fields was among the innovators of early sound films in using contemporary cultural references; yet the movie is not so tied to its era that its references have become obscure." - www.allmovie.com

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Poppy 1936 - Another W. C. Fields comedy classic

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028120/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3
IMDB rating: 6,9

Director: A. Edward Sutherland
Main Cast: W. C. Fields, Rochelle Hudson, Richard Cromwell, Catherine Doucet

"Poppy is the film version of the Dorothy Donnelly musical comedy which made W.C. Fields a Broadway star back in 1923 (an earlier, less-faithful version, also starring Fields and retitled Sally of the Sawdust, was directed by D. W. Griffith in 1926). Finishing Poppy on schedule was quite a trial for W.C. Fields, who, in addition to breaking a vertebra while filming a chase sequence, further damaged his spine in a household accident. As a result, he could barely stand up during shooting, and many of his scenes had to be completed by a stunt double. One would never know that Fields was in excruciating pain throughout the film, however: Comedy-wise, he's at the top of his form, especially when he sells a 'talking dog' to a gullible rube and finagles a free lunch from an equally dense hot-dog vendor. Poppy is also the film in which Fields imparts a sage bit of advice to his screen daughter: 'Never give a sucker an even break'." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/poppy-v106376

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Mississippi 1935 - A rare Crosby classic

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026723/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,9

Director: A. Edward Sutherland
Main Cast: Bing Crosby, W. C. Fields, Joan Bennett, Gail Patrick

"In this comedy with musical numbers set in the Old South, Bing Crosby plays a singer from Philadelphia named Tom Grayson, who has fallen in love with Southern heiress Elvira Rumford (Gail Patrick). Tom wants to marry Elvira, but a man called Major Patterson (John Miljan) has announced his desire to do the same, and he challenges Tom to a duel to decide who will have Elvira's hand. Tom is not at all agreeable to this idea, which leads Elvira's father (Claude Gillingwater) to proclaim Tom to be a coward and deny him permission to wed his daughter. Elvira's sister Lucy (Joan Bennett), who is infatuated with Tom, thinks that he's merely being sensible, but Tom thinks that Lucy is too young for a serious relationship. In need of work and not especially welcome in the Rumford's community, Tom takes a job performing on a riverboat piloted by the blustery Commodore Orlando Jackson (W.C. Fields). One night, Tom finds himself in a barroom brawl with a man named Captain Blackie (Fred Kohler), who dies accidentally from a shot fired by his own gun. Hoping that his infamy will draw crowds, Jackson begins billing Tom as 'The Singing Killer'. Tom comes to realize that Lucy may be the right woman for him after all, but Lucy is not interested in a man with blood on his hands, and now Tom must convince her that he's not a killer at all. Noted gambling aficionado Fields has a hilarious poker-playing bit, and he steals most of his scenes from the rest of the cast. Mississippi was loosely based on the play 'Magnolia' by Booth Tarkington." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/mississippi-v102575/

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The man on the flying trapeze 1935 - A little unknown but classic W. C. Fields comedy

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026676/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,8

Director: Clyde Bruckman
Main Cast: W. C. Fields, Kathleen Howard, Mary Brian

"Although it is not as well known as such classic W.C. Fields entries as The Bank Dick, The Man on the Flying Trapeze is one of the great comic's finest vehicles and a delightful film all around. Despite the title, there's no circus setting in Trapeze; the title is more metaphorical, referring to the title character's flying from one ridiculous situation to another and as such could serve as the title for any number of Fields pictures. Trapeze benefits from the fact that the comic is playing a slightly more submissive character than usual. Fields is almost always put-upon in some way, and his characters vary in how much they react to his situations, but his Ambrose Wolfinger is more vulnerable and one roots for him even more than usual. That's not to say he's not as cantankerous and crabby as ever, just that his retorts are more 'under the breath' than usual. Fields and crew do a wonderful job of setting up all the odds against Ambrose, making the audience feel for and with him, and the comic set pieces they devise are gems all the way through. They do such a fine job that when the character finally has had enough and explodes, it's a titanic release for the audience as well and generates an incredible sense of fair play and joy among viewers. Fields' supporting cast is quite good, but it's definitely Fields who holds the whole show together and does it beautifully." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-man-on-the-flying-trapeze-v101325/

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David Copperfield 1935 - A great adaptation with strong performances

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026266/
IMDB rating: 7,6

Director: George Cukor
Main Cast: Freddie Bartholomew, Frank Lawton, W. C. Fields, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Madge Evans, Edna May Oliver, Roland Young, Elizabeth Allan, Basil Rathbone, Elsa Lanchester

"David Copperfield was MGM's major Christmas release for its 1934-1935 season and also the first of producer David O. Selznick's major 'literary' films for that studio. While a great deal of editing and streamlining was necessary to distill Charles Dickens' massive novel into 133 minutes of screen time, the end result was so successful that only the nittiest of nitpickers complained about the excised characters and events.
This 1935 adaptation of David Copperfield has endeared itself to generations of movie audiences in spite of artistic and technical flaws reflecting the state of the movie art in filmdom's infancy. The success of the production derives mainly from its loyalty to the spirit of the novel, its atmospheric depiction of 19th century England, and its talented adult actors. On the other hand, the child actors - Freddie Bartholomew (David as a boy), Fay Chaldecott (Little Emily), and Marilyn Knowlden (Agnes as a little girl) - all perform with the overwrought theatricality of elementary students in a school play. Moreover, Elizabeth Allan as Mrs. Clara Copperfield fairly reeks of maudlin melodrama. Even her two-second fainting spell is overdone. Director George Cukor may be responsible for the weak performances of Allen and the children; Cukor's choppy transition style also hurts the film. He unceremoniously cuts off one scene, then begins rolling the camera again elsewhere.
Originally, Charles Laughton was slated to play Micawber, but he pulled out of the production, worried that he wouldn't be funny enough. The casting of W. C. Fields was an inspired choice: although he injects his own established screen personality at every opportunity, Fields was born to play Micawber. Likewise, second-billed Lionel Barrymore fits his portrayal of crusty old Dan Peggoty like a glove. In fact, there isn't a false bit of casting in the whole production, and this, as much as Selznick's sumptuous production values, is the key to David Copperfield's enormous success." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/david-copperfield-v12542

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You're telling me 1934 - A kindhearted Fields in a surprisingly sweet fairy tale

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026017/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3
IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: Erle C. Kenton
Main Cast: W. C. Fields, Joan Marsh, Buster Crabbe, Adrienne Ames

"One of W.C. Fields' best features, You're Telling Me (a remake of his silent comedy So's Your Old Man) is a comic gem from one of the screen's finest comic performers. It's to be expected that a Fields flick will be funny - or at the very least that Fields himself will be funny. What's surprising and rewarding about Telling is that it provides the cynical master with one of his most likeable roles. Don't worry - he's still an oily curmudgeon who's never met a person about whom he can't find something to insult. But there's a slightly softer side to Fields here, both in his dealings with and feelings for his daughter and in the manner in which he 'rescues' the Princess from what he misinterprets as a suicidal impulse. This latter scene is especially rewarding; it's still amusing, but there's a vulnerability and tenderness underneath Fields that is not often given this much rein. Like many Fields vehicles, this one is more a series of gags and routines tied around a more or less loose plot; but the vignettes are choice, including a version of his celebrated golf routine, as well as an ostrich sequence that is first class. Fields alone is more than enough reason to watch Telling, but there's also fine support from Adrienne Ames, Kathleen Howard, and Louise Carter, among others, that more than makes up from the rather perfunctory performances of Joan Marsh and Larry 'Buster' Crabbe. Thought lost for many years, You're Telling Me's rediscovery in the 1970s gave quite a boost to Fields aficionados hungry for something 'new'." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/youre-telling-me-v118033

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It's a gift 1934 - A classic comedy by any standards

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025318/
IMDB rating: 7,5

Director: Norman Z. McLeod
Main Cast: W. C. Fields, Kathleen Howard, Jean Rouverol

"Anyone seeking to understand W.C. Fields's humor and screen persona need look no further than Norman Z. McLeod's It's A Gift. The 1934 movie, which was successful but not highly regarded at the time, has become the defining film in the comic's screen career. It's also a very telling comedy about men who are downtrodden in spirit and put-upon by everyone around them, particularly women and children. It's misogynist humor, which is one reason why Fields' comedy, like that of the 1990s television series Married... with Children, is almost entirely a male phenomenon. In It's A Gift, Fields' performance as the common man and hen-pecked husband achieved a level of sympathy that he would seldom find in his other, more aggressive, assertive roles. Fields' Harold Bissonette is, or rather, once was, an essentially kind man - he wants nothing more than peace and quiet to enjoy his meals, family, and home, and wouldn't even mind earning the respect of his wife, if that's what it takes - but his patience is tried at every turn by some of the most obnoxious supporting players ever to grace a feature film. It's significant that the one and only completely sympathetic character in It's A Gift is Harold's new neighbor, a complete stranger (former filmmaker Dell Henderson) who does Bissonette a good turn without even knowing anything about him. The gesture is an element of the script that suggests, subtly yet profoundly, that there is hope for Harold and the men in Fields' audience like him. Fields never did another movie that was as cleanly executed, neatly constructed, or pleasing - indeed, by the end of his career, with Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, his barbed humor spun in too many directions at once, evoking a spirit of anarchy but not much sympathy or warmth. It's A Gift is Fields at his most affecting and funny and, along with his performance as Micawber in George Cukor's David Copperfield, his best work on screen." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/its-a-gift-v25529

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