"It's a Gift" never touched me ... WC and the direction both too frantic, nothing sticks in my memory as hilarious besides Mr. Muckle and "I don't want to lug the gum home, "Send It!!" ... WC was too much of a heavyweight to take on Baby Leroy so it's hard to enjoy those scenes ... Bill was better as victim than as persecutor.
"The Bank Dick" I wince at, it tries too hard (its too-cute incidental music behind WC's antics, the Franklin Pangborns and Shemp Howards to liven it up etc.) and sorry to say a WC puffed-up and inexpressive, senility-by-way-of-the-bottle having crept in. By this point I think he was spending half the time in a sanitarium. "The Bank Dick" isn't the best of Bill, folks.
Bill's real genius as shown in this movie was his subtlety in patiently weathering every misfortune, and they all befall him. Oliver Hardy would have soon gone ballistic, Edgar Kennedy would have done the "slow-burn," but WC, with just an apolgetic mumble, is more interesting than either as we watch his good-nature tested. The ensemble is great: Oscar Apfel as his boss is this strange cartoon boss, Kathleen Howard as WC's wife has a presence here that is unforgettable, the memorable Michael Viseroff as cellmate for Bill (... "yes, that's in your favor (!)...") ... It's as if the odd ways of WC rubbed off on the rest of the cast, a possibility since he basically directed the film. It's slow-drip torture for WC all the way, How much will he take? ... One of those films with nothing wasted; like me you might find you remember practically every line in every scene. Perfect. Well, maybe the ending is a little trite.
I taped this from the late show in 1982. You mean there was a maternity ward scene cut out? I can't wait to see this and any other missing stuff from this gem of a film. Eleven stars.
"The Bank Dick" I wince at, it tries too hard (its too-cute incidental music behind WC's antics, the Franklin Pangborns and Shemp Howards to liven it up etc.) and sorry to say a WC puffed-up and inexpressive, senility-by-way-of-the-bottle having crept in. By this point I think he was spending half the time in a sanitarium. "The Bank Dick" isn't the best of Bill, folks.
Bill's real genius as shown in this movie was his subtlety in patiently weathering every misfortune, and they all befall him. Oliver Hardy would have soon gone ballistic, Edgar Kennedy would have done the "slow-burn," but WC, with just an apolgetic mumble, is more interesting than either as we watch his good-nature tested. The ensemble is great: Oscar Apfel as his boss is this strange cartoon boss, Kathleen Howard as WC's wife has a presence here that is unforgettable, the memorable Michael Viseroff as cellmate for Bill (... "yes, that's in your favor (!)...") ... It's as if the odd ways of WC rubbed off on the rest of the cast, a possibility since he basically directed the film. It's slow-drip torture for WC all the way, How much will he take? ... One of those films with nothing wasted; like me you might find you remember practically every line in every scene. Perfect. Well, maybe the ending is a little trite.
I taped this from the late show in 1982. You mean there was a maternity ward scene cut out? I can't wait to see this and any other missing stuff from this gem of a film. Eleven stars.