The Man On The Flying Trapeze has W.C. Fields at his henpecked best living his hellish existence with his second wife Kathleen Howard, her mother Vera Lewis, and her brother Grady Sutton. Sutton is the one who really bothers him the most, he's a 'delicate' fellow who just can't get around to finding a job. Fields is supporting all of them and gets nothing but grief for his labors. The only consolation he has is Mary Brian who is his daughter by his first marriage.
There's no real plot to The Man On The Flying Trapeze except that Fields is on a quest to just get a day off so he can see the wrestling matches. He's similarly treated bad at his job, but for an odd reason he proves to be indispensable there which saves his whole situation.
Walter Brennan is also in this film. Along with Tammany Young, Brennan is a burglar who comes to the Fields home for loot. Brennan and Young find Fields's stash of applejack which no doubt helps get him through the day given his family. When Howard hounds him to confront the burglars, Fields very reluctantly goes to the basement and finding them more congenial companions than his family hoists a few with him. When law enforcement comes and they're all in court, see who pays the piper. There was a Married With Children episode where Al Bundy confronted a burglar and got similar treatment.
More than any other comedian W.C. Fields style of comedy is based on reactions more than anything else. He'll get off a sharp retort or two and he was great with ad-libs. But it's his physical expressions and body movements that create the image and the humor.
Kathleen Howard is a great foil for him as well. This should be seen with It's A Gift which has a similar plot situation and the dynamic with her and Fields is the same. The two play beautifully off each other.
In the end the worm really turns in The Man On The Flying Trapeze.
There's no real plot to The Man On The Flying Trapeze except that Fields is on a quest to just get a day off so he can see the wrestling matches. He's similarly treated bad at his job, but for an odd reason he proves to be indispensable there which saves his whole situation.
Walter Brennan is also in this film. Along with Tammany Young, Brennan is a burglar who comes to the Fields home for loot. Brennan and Young find Fields's stash of applejack which no doubt helps get him through the day given his family. When Howard hounds him to confront the burglars, Fields very reluctantly goes to the basement and finding them more congenial companions than his family hoists a few with him. When law enforcement comes and they're all in court, see who pays the piper. There was a Married With Children episode where Al Bundy confronted a burglar and got similar treatment.
More than any other comedian W.C. Fields style of comedy is based on reactions more than anything else. He'll get off a sharp retort or two and he was great with ad-libs. But it's his physical expressions and body movements that create the image and the humor.
Kathleen Howard is a great foil for him as well. This should be seen with It's A Gift which has a similar plot situation and the dynamic with her and Fields is the same. The two play beautifully off each other.
In the end the worm really turns in The Man On The Flying Trapeze.