The Old Fashioned Way.

Review #1883: The Old Fashioned Way.

Cast: 

W. C. Fields (The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs), Joe Morrison (Wally Livingston / William Dowton), Baby LeRoy (Albert Pepperday), Judith Allen (Betty McGonigle / Agnes Dowton), Jan Duggan (Cleopatra Pepperday), Tammany Young (Marmaduke Gump), Nora Cecil (Mrs. Wendelschaffer), Lew Kelly (Sheriff Walter Jones), Jack Mulhall (Dick Bronson), Oscar Apfel (Mr. Livingston), Samuel Ethridge (Bartley Neuville / Edward Middleton / The Drunkard), Ruth Marion (Agatha Sprague / Mary Wilson), and Richard Carle (Sheriff of Barnesville) Directed by William Beaudine (#463 - Billy the Kid versus Dracula, #535 - Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, and #1153 - Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter)

Review: 

There was plenty of time for director to have their assignment involve W. C. Fields, who ended up in countless comedies over the 1930s, with varying results. William Beaudine was a director who churned out movies at a rate in quantity and genre distinction like no other, which meant that there is a crop of varying quality with his films, which he directed for decades when he started at the age of 23 in the 1910s (with features in next decade, with plenty of comedies around). Of course, Beaudine was the man for hire with Paramount Pictures in a string of movies that he done on assignment for various recognizable names such as Fox Film (later in the decade, with studios chafing at meeting his salary finances, which meant he eventually had to go with cheaper studios). This film was written by Jack Cunningham based on a story by "Charles Bogle", which was just another name for W. C. Fields that I'm sure you are familiar with him doing the same thing in other movies such as It's a Gift, released the same year as this. This is an interesting presentation: it shows scenes from a play that the characters in the movie play for a crowd with The Drunkard: or, The Fallen Saved, (written primarily by William Henry Smith with unknown collaborators) which was first performed in 1844. The play was a temperance play, which meant that it was a play meant to warn of the dangers of consuming alcohol (remember that the United States did an entire Amendment dedicated to banning it in the early 20th century). It was actually quite popular as something to produce across the States in the 19th century. While it may seem like dated melodrama of its time, there actually is a little theater in Tulsa that has done a production of the play one time a week for nearly seven decades. Even Buster Keaton made fun of the play with his own parody in 1940.

Million Dollar Legs (1932) was his first Paramount appearance (with a few shorts sprinkled in that were done by Mack Sennett), while International House (1933) made him even more popular that would keep on a road to taking the primary lead in films that came out later such as Tillie and Gus and then this film (there were a few little anthologies along the way to go with other films like David Copperfield (1935), of course). Of course, the film shows the play within audiences that would engage with the drama on its own terms (i.e. reaction shots) in emotional involvement, whether that means a woman telling her husband to watch his heart or a couple asking if they think "this" is a good play. The film verges on the huckster played by Fields and not so much on the weirdness of the play, because you think of it for yourself (so can either look on the nostalgia of 19th century audiences enjoying a play or whatever). He approaches things with lofty patience for what he knows will be amusing sequences for himself besides the necessary parts involving would-be romances or other things. He's a misanthrope in the most fun way possible, weaving his way through oddballs of adults and children for general interest…and he also shows his juggling skill to the audience, which he was pretty adept in the old days of vaudeville that is a key highlight. As a whole, the movie works best in his time on screen in general huckster amusement, where he can maneuver select lines and facial expressions without the semblance of tiredness or forcing it in, down to the logical conclusion set at the end. He seems adept at trying to convince folks (read: studio executives) that he can carry his own film without needing to be just part of the ensemble, which seems easy to prove now but obviously needed to be shown for clear enjoyment there, such as when he plays sly in the opening when trying to reach a train looking for his deadbeat self...which he handles adeptly. The stuff with Allen and Morrison is okay, mostly since it isn't just a single-minded pursuit of a girl (because hey, she wants him to get a life in college). Baby LeRoy is a baby, which means if you care for stuff involving him "throwing" stuff, then it works fine. If one prefers to see Fields play a charlatan rather than a family man, then go right ahead. I thought it worked out fine for a serviceable pace that is easygoing enough for most folks to enjoy without losing focus. It isn't exactly his most distinct feature, but it works out in all the useful ways needed to make it worth a watch.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

It's a Gift.

Review #1858: It's a Gift.

Cast: 

W.C. Fields (Harold Bissonette), Kathleen Howard (Amelia Bissonette), Jean Rouverol (Mildred Bissonette), Julian Madison (John Durston), Tommy Bupp (Norman Bissonette), Tammany Young (Everett Ricks), Baby LeRoy (Baby Elwood Dunk), Morgan Wallace (Jasper Fitchmueller), Charles Sellon (Mr. Muckle), Josephine Whittell (Mrs. Dunk), Diana Lewis (Betty Dunk), and Dell Henderson (Charles Abernathy) Directed by Norman Z. McLeod (#688 - Horse Feathers, #1346 - Topper, and #1829 - Topper Takes a Trip)

Review: 

There are quite a handful of movies one could watch that feature W. C. Fields (silent or sound), whether it features him playing a hard-drinking misanthrope or an everyman. Generally, the characters he played in those movies (starring roles at least) were in the former category, but this is one of his roles in the latter. Jack Cunningham is the credited writer for the movie, although it is the adaptation material that matters most. J.P. McEvoy was the original author of the musical revue that became The Comic Supplement, a 1925 production that had W.C. Fields write his own scenes (incidentally, when he did film scripts, he liked to go under false names like Otis Criblecoblis); you may remember that Fields had done many years of vaudeville and Broadway before he did movies. Fields was a vaudeville star. Fields cribbed routines from the 1910s and 1920s with this film, most notably with the sketch involving a back porch that he had done in It's the Old Army Game (1926). Fields was quite busy in 1934, with this being the sixth feature he appeared in that year, with a sudden decline in health eventually leading him to less roles over the next couple of years.

Fields obviously knows what is best when it comes to light fare that feature select wisecracks for 68 minutes that has the bare minimum in plot for a decent experience. He handles the routines presented here with careful timing and preparation that stages things exactly the way one hopes for, whether that involves a scene where he tries to go to sleep amid a series of inconveniences. Being the hen-pecked man in the middle works out for the most part when paired with Howard in razor-sharp edge more so than the child presences in Rouverol and Bupp that are more in the background with occasional bits to pop in (such as a picnic or a winding sequence with a mirror). This is the third and final feature to feature Baby LeRoy in a Fields movie (he and Fields also made cameo appearances separately with Alice in Wonderland (1933), also directed by McLeod), with the first two being Tillie and Gus (1933) and The Old Fashioned Way (1934). Yes, there was a time when babies were billed like this; Ronald Le Roy Overacker was featured in ten movies from 1933 to 1935. McLeod stated that Fields had a phobia of the baby (and infants in general) to the point where he swore at the baby in front of the camera. Honestly, there isn't much to really say about him, since it's just one scene of a baby doing things that are meant to be wacky like touching a molasses spigot or whatever. Young, Wallace, and Sellon are all featured in one scene with the grocery store: one plays a blind man that Fields tries to make him not suffer mishaps, one who really wants kumquats, and a bumbling fool. This works out for a couple of chuckles in a vignette Fields handles with worthy consistency to the foils presented to him in arrangement. In total, a steady amount of sequences that run for a few minutes at a time make for a decent experience, one that goes pretty much the way you think a movie ostensibly about a man trying to buy an orange grove. The fun is seeing what gets accomplished in generating humor with its key man freewheeling his way through for leisure and laughs that make for a decent experience to breeze through for those with an hour to spare or for those who want to see a Fields movie in his era of effectiveness.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.