W.C. Fields was simply the most talented comedian who ever lived, and "It's a Gift" (1934) is his most accessible feature. It's a loose remake of the 1926 silent "It's the Old Army Game" which stared Fields and Louise Brooks; and which Fields wrote. Like most silent features, the scene transitions are very abrupt, with titles used in place scripted transitional elements.
For "It's a Gift", Director Norman McLeod elected to stay true to the original and keep the flavor of its sudden transitions. Although the technique is jarring to modern viewers it works to the film's comic advantage by speeding up the pace of the film, as it moves from set piece to set piece with virtually no filler. You get everything that would have had any entertainment value in a 90-minute feature compressed into a 73-minute picture. Imagine a four-act play with one-second breaks between each act.
Act I takes place in the in the apartment home of the Bissonette family; consisting of put upon everyman husband/father Harold (Fields), his shrewish wife Amelia (Kathleen Howard), overwrought teenage daughter Jean (Jean Rouverol), and roller skating 9-year old son Norman (Tom Bupp). The most famous bit is Fields trying to finish shaving after his daughter has eased him away from the bathroom mirror.
Harold is the proprietor of a small grocery store and Act II takes place inside the store. The most famous bit concerns blind Mr. Muckle (Charles Sellon) whose flailing cane causes a staggering amount of damage.
Act III finds Harold back home trying to set some sleep. The best bit involves a series of trivial interruptions as everyone from the milk man to an insurance salesman manage to disturb him the moment it appears he is finally going to get some rest.
Act IV is the family's move to California by automobile to start a new life on an orange ranch Harold has purchased with his inheritance.
It's pretty much constant laughs, all the more remarkable because Fields stays in character for the entire duration. Harold Bissonette is his most sympathetic character, just an average guy badgered and hounded to the point of exasperation. Unlike his other features there are no cheap laughs from drinking or from leering at young women. The comedy derives entirely from Fields (and Howard who gets a laugh with every single line), it a nightmare realistic enough to make you squirm.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
For "It's a Gift", Director Norman McLeod elected to stay true to the original and keep the flavor of its sudden transitions. Although the technique is jarring to modern viewers it works to the film's comic advantage by speeding up the pace of the film, as it moves from set piece to set piece with virtually no filler. You get everything that would have had any entertainment value in a 90-minute feature compressed into a 73-minute picture. Imagine a four-act play with one-second breaks between each act.
Act I takes place in the in the apartment home of the Bissonette family; consisting of put upon everyman husband/father Harold (Fields), his shrewish wife Amelia (Kathleen Howard), overwrought teenage daughter Jean (Jean Rouverol), and roller skating 9-year old son Norman (Tom Bupp). The most famous bit is Fields trying to finish shaving after his daughter has eased him away from the bathroom mirror.
Harold is the proprietor of a small grocery store and Act II takes place inside the store. The most famous bit concerns blind Mr. Muckle (Charles Sellon) whose flailing cane causes a staggering amount of damage.
Act III finds Harold back home trying to set some sleep. The best bit involves a series of trivial interruptions as everyone from the milk man to an insurance salesman manage to disturb him the moment it appears he is finally going to get some rest.
Act IV is the family's move to California by automobile to start a new life on an orange ranch Harold has purchased with his inheritance.
It's pretty much constant laughs, all the more remarkable because Fields stays in character for the entire duration. Harold Bissonette is his most sympathetic character, just an average guy badgered and hounded to the point of exasperation. Unlike his other features there are no cheap laughs from drinking or from leering at young women. The comedy derives entirely from Fields (and Howard who gets a laugh with every single line), it a nightmare realistic enough to make you squirm.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.