A comedian like W.C Fields remains good in films but the quality is uneven. Most of his yarns contain very good moments but the plots and pace are a bit lacking. His most consistently funny comedy is "The Bank Dick" in my opinion. "The Old Fashioned Way" has little in the way of a coherent story and the film moves along fairly slowly. The setting is late 1890s which does work. Fields is the one to watch by far. He plays a rather shady character who travels with a troupe of actors and other show business types. He is shady because he fails to pay his rent in various boarding houses and is wanted by the law (as Fields invariably was). The second half of "The Old Fashioned Way" plays more like a variety act. It is quite good but the part where W.C Fields demonstrates his juggling skills is something to marvel at! No camera trickery involved, just expert timing and sleight of hand. Goodness knows how long it must have taken the comedian to master his art. I was very impressed. The scenes with that woman with the dreadful singing voice are very funny, Fields showed good comic timing. An interesting film but not as funny as I was expecting.
Review of The Old Fashioned Way
