Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
1934/USA
Paramount Pictures
#81 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Second viewing
W.C. Fields plays Harold Bisonette (that’s Biso-NAY when his wife’s around). The hen-pecked Bisonette owns a corner grocery but dreams of moving to California and running an orange ranch. His uncle dies and leaves him the money to move his family West, much to their disgust. The orange grove turns out to be a bust but there is always a happy ending in a W.C. Fields movie.
Harry Payne Bosterly: You’re drunk!
Harold: And you’re crazy. But I’ll be sober tomorrow and you’ll be crazy for the rest of your life.
I have been trying to figure out why Fields just isn’t funny to me. I think he lets each of his gags run on too long and telegraphs them too obviously. Also much of the humor relies on destruction, irritating noises, etc., which I find more annoying than comic. Finally this movie has a scene of food humor toward the end. I can’t help it, I just find anything involving making a mess with food more disgusting than anything else.
This is one of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. The only reason I can find is that W.C. Fields is a name everybody has probably heard of. I now have seen this film twice and that’s more than enough for one lifetime.
The porch scene (Karl L-a-F-o-n-g)
You are right all the way through. Some of it is potentially funny, but dragging out the joke (and endless repetition kills it off. Like you I also get more annoyed than amused with all the hassle he encounters.
It’s good to know that I’m not the only person in the world that doesn’t find Fields hilarious. I still have another Fields film for 1934 to go, The Old Fashioned Way. I have zero expectations for it but I’m a diehard completist.
This is my favorite film of Fields, but I can see by your comments that he isn’t for everybody.
I’m not a huge W.C. Fields fan either. I don’t remember “It’s a Gift” ALL that well (it’s been about six years since I’ve seen it), but it didn’t leave a lasting impression on me.
For once we are going to part ways on our opinion of a film. Although most of Field’s films don’t particularly appeal to me, this is my favorite for one scene……..the Carl LaFong porch scene. It makes me laugh every time. The “sit down Mr. Muckle, honey” one isn’t too bad either.
Whatever makes you laugh is funny! Fields made a lot of people laugh, that’s for sure. I like his one liners but not his extended routines.
Not as funny as the Marx Brothers, the best of Laurel and Hardy, and the funniest of Chaplin or Harold Lloyd, but the slapstick comedy holds up really well and there are some great lines of dialogue. Unlike Buster Keaton, Fields is assaulted by little problems, like a baby dropping grapes on his head from the floor above him or his wife always thinking the worst of what’s going on (e.g., why are you talking to those two women, she demands to know, but it’s really the two women who started talking to Fields, not the other way around). These are more subtle forms of humor, but actually funnier because they are so subtle and petty and are actually something the average person is going to encounter. So, I don’t think at all that the bits go on too long. Take, for instance, the bathroom mirror scene. There, the jokes keep building and building until Fields is contorting himself to follow the little revolving mirror he’s tied to a strong or wire from the ceiling. Very simple, but highly effective. Finally, Fields is definitely not as sympathetic as the other comics mentioned above, because he’s clearly a grumpy misanthrope who doesn’t like people and just wants to be left alone to indulge his own peccadilloes. This is actually MORE daring. That said, he goes overboard in trying to be kind to the deaf old blind man, who’s actually a selfish jerk.
Humor is such a personal thing. Your analysis is spot on but I’m waiting to fall in love with Fields.