- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,428
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
Those familiar with the career of one W.C. Fields, a spurious name if I ever heard one, will know that he had his cinematic roots back in 1915. He worked with Griffith on a couple of products in 1925, and by the early '30s was perfecting his persona in both shorts and small parts in sound features.
If one surveys his feature career for the films for which he's known today, you'll find them running from 1933 during his Paramount period - Tillie and Gus (1933), You're Telling Me and The Old Fashioned Way and It's a Gift (1934), Man on the Flying Trapeze and Poppy (1936) then to his move across town to Universal, where he wrote and starred in what are probably his best works, beginning in 1939 with You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, My Little Chickadee and The Bank Dick in 1940, and finally Never Give a Sucker an Even Break in 1941.
My Little Chickadee arrived 6/21. Bank Dick and Never Give are due 11/9, which only leaves You Can't Give... among the missing - but if Kino continues its yeoman-like work toward releasing the classics, we're bound to see it soon.
As a Blu-ray, The Bank Dick looks far better than okay. Obviously derived from a dupe, and a bit on the course side (grain), it's fine from a normal seating distance, with no real problems to report.
A wonderful film with Fields in to form.
Image – 3.5
Audio – 4
Pass / Fail – Pass
Highly Recommended
RAH
If one surveys his feature career for the films for which he's known today, you'll find them running from 1933 during his Paramount period - Tillie and Gus (1933), You're Telling Me and The Old Fashioned Way and It's a Gift (1934), Man on the Flying Trapeze and Poppy (1936) then to his move across town to Universal, where he wrote and starred in what are probably his best works, beginning in 1939 with You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, My Little Chickadee and The Bank Dick in 1940, and finally Never Give a Sucker an Even Break in 1941.
My Little Chickadee arrived 6/21. Bank Dick and Never Give are due 11/9, which only leaves You Can't Give... among the missing - but if Kino continues its yeoman-like work toward releasing the classics, we're bound to see it soon.
As a Blu-ray, The Bank Dick looks far better than okay. Obviously derived from a dupe, and a bit on the course side (grain), it's fine from a normal seating distance, with no real problems to report.
A wonderful film with Fields in to form.
Image – 3.5
Audio – 4
Pass / Fail – Pass
Highly Recommended
RAH