Rent W.C. Fields: You're Telling Me! / Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
3.7 of 5 from 7 ratings
2h 6min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
A double bill of films by the popular 1930s comedian...
You're Telling Me! (1934)
Sam Bisbee (W.C. Fields) unwittingly ruins the romance between his daughter and a local society boy. When disaster befalls the demonstration of his new puncture-proof tyre, Sam takes the train home and meets the visiting Princess Lescaboura (Adrienne Ames). She calls at his home town and announces hem as a hero. Bisbee is transformed into a leading citizen.
Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)Ambrose Wolfinger (W.C. Fields) lives with his wife, stepson, mother-in-low and the daughter from his first, happier marriage. He takes his first afternoon off work in twenty-five years to attend a wrestling match, on the bogus pretext that his mother-in-law has died. Floral tributes arrive at the horse and Ambrose is falsely accused of a drunken spree with his secretary. He is fired but reinstated - on more favourable terms - when his memory for clients' details is recognized. - Actors:
- W.C. Fields, Joan Marsh, Buster Crabbe, Adrienne Ames, Louise Carter, Kathleen Howard, Tammany Young, Dell Henderson, James B. 'Pop' Kenton, Robert McKenzie, Nora Cecil, George Irving, William Bailey, Eddie Baker, Dorothy Bay, Harold Berquist, Don Brodie, Elise Cavanna, Ruth Cherrington, Hal Craig
- Directors:
- Erle C. Kenton, Clyde Bruckman, W.C. Fields
- Producers:
- William LeBaron
- Writers:
- Walter DeLeon, Paul M. Jones, J.P. McEvoy, Julian Street, W.C. Fields, Ray Harris, Sam Hardy, Jack Cunningham, Frank Griffin, John Sinclair, Bobby Vernon
- Studio:
- Universal Pictures
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy, Drama
- Collections:
- 10 Films to Watch if You Like: King Kong, A History of Sports Films (Summer Edition), Films to Watch If You Like..., Paramount's Laughing Thirties, A Brief History of Film...
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Reviews (1) of W.C. Fields: You're Telling Me! / Man on the Flying Trapeze
on both films... - W.C. Fields: You're Telling Me! / Man on the Flying Trapeze review by Steve
YOU'RE TELLING ME!
This is the picture which allowed WC Fields creative control of his sound comedies for the first time, and established the formula which would make him a cinema legend. He is the browbeaten husband of an exasperated wife (Louis Carter), who medicates his disappointment with whisky and daydreams.
His other solace is a grown up daughter (Joan Marsh) who loves him, otherwise the set up would be too sad for comedy. Here he is a part-time deviser of crackpot gadgets whose child is overlooked for marriage by the rich family of a preppy hunk (Buster Crabbe) because Fields lacks social position.
Only a sad Russian princess (Adrienne Ames) encounters the hapless inventor on a train and kindly visits his home town to boost his status in the community. But the plot is the least successful part of the film. The appeal comes from the diminished status of the great comedian within his home.
And this is really, very funny with one or two moments of precious hilarity. But there is genuine pathos too. A few of the star’s routines from the silents are recycled, which was standard. The screen legacy of WC Fields effectively starts here with his first truly essential sound film.
MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE.
WC Fields retains Kathleen Howard from It's a Gift as his shrewish wife, but this time has a more loving daughter (Mary Brian) to sweeten the dish. It's a Gift is hilarious, but awfully cold. Again there's a collection of sketches arranged around a loose narrative. Ambrose Wolfinger just wants to go to the wrestling...
The best episode is the opener when the great man is forced into the cellar by his wife to confront two burglars who are getting mellowly drunk on his applejack. Fields, the intruders and a cop end up harmonising sentimental Irish ballads. For all of them, this is brief moment of respite, seized from the hell of domesticity.
It's such a funny film because Fields' comic persona is so identifiable. His interminable suffering is revealed so succinctly, with a sudden nervous reflex or a mumbled aside. He has grown to accept his malign fate. And there's nothing he can do about it.
Fields is always doing what he is asked, however absurd. Then is admonished when the outcome proves to be unsatisfactory. He acts without complaint or hope, and then gets nailed for it. And who doesn't know how that feels?! This is my pick as his best film.
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