Blu-ray Review A Few Words About A few words about…™ The Bank Dick – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[warnerbro]

WC Fields is my favorite comedienne of all time. Everything he did was in good taste but just barely on the edge.

 

[Paul Penna]

WC Fields is my favorite comedienne of all time. Everything he did was in good taste but just barely on the edge.

Especially the comedienne part.

 

[moviepas]

WC Fields is my favorite comedienne of all time. Everything he did was in good taste but just barely on the edge.

comedienne???????????????????

 

[bujaki]

comedienne???????????????????

It was a well-kept secret that's just surfaced.

 

[lark144]

It was a well-kept secret that's just surfaced.

I think they knew about it in Philadelphia.

 

[cinefan]

It’s A Gift is probably my all time favorite of the bunch. You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man is pretty good, but not as funny as Fields and McCarthy were on radio (seek out those broadcasts if you’ve never heard them!). Tillie and Gus doesn’t get mentioned very often these days but I have a real soft spot for it.

I watched Tillie and Gus again recently for the first time in many years and really enjoyed it. I'd agree it's underrated. My own somewhat idiosyncratic choice for favorite Fields film is probably The Old Fashioned Way. The sequence where Jan Duggan auditions for Fields ("Gathering up the shells by the shore, WILLIE!") is one of the funniest things I've ever seen; Duggan is hilarious and Fields' reactions are priceless. I also love the sequences from The Drunkard that we get to see, as well as the best presentation of Fields' juggling skills captured on film.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Hey, nothing about that socko-boff commentary?

I really enjoyed it!

I think I’m at the point where I’ve read enough about Fields that there might not be much new for me to learn, but your commentary included everything I’d want to say to someone who wanted to know more but didn’t have time to obsess over a stack of dusty old books. And it was pleasantly conversational in the way that I’d love to hang out and chat after watching the movie. Job well done and much appreciated!

 

[Robert Harris]

Mr. S. Is a class act, and his commentaries show both his knowledge and love of our art form.

 

[titch]

Old home video (laserdisc at least) offered very poor sound quality. The old "laserdisc newsletter" said it sounded like the Bank Dick soundtrack was recorded underwater

Ah - I'm still subscribing to the newsletter! It's brought me monthly joy for over 30 years.

 

[cadavra]

Mr. S. Is a class act, and his commentaries show both his knowledge and love of our art form.

Thanks to both you and Josh!

 

[Paul Penna]

Mr. S. Is a class act, and his commentaries show both his knowledge and love of our art form.

More often than not I find myself disappointed in commentaries - I'm picky that way -, but the combination of film and commentator makes this one I can't wait to find in my mailbox, with any luck just a few days now.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’ve now seen all three of this wave of Kino/Fields releases and I’m a very satisfied customer. For me, these are some of the funniest films of all time which never fail to put a smile on my face, and anyone who holds Fields in the same regard should feel confident upgrading from their old DVDs to these new Blu-ray editions.

 

[warnerbro]

I agree. This is a great commentary. And I it is arguably one of his best. And I can't believe what he got away with in this film.

 

[sbjork]

If I’m remembering the Kino post about this new round of Fields titles, this and It’s A Gift are from HD masters Universal made about a decade ago, while The Old Fashioned Way is coming from a raw scan that Universal performed in 2017 that was color corrected and cleaned up by Kino this year.

So I guess what I’m saying is, this should be as bad as it gets and it sounds pretty darned good to me.

I’m thrilled to be getting these in HD. My Fields titles are among my most frequently revisited titles in my collection and I had practically given up hope on getting anything better than a DVD - I was just happy that the DVDs are all in reasonably presentable shape.

According to Kino, It's A Gift came from a 4K scan done in 2017. But it's telling that they just mentioned the scan, because it's a raw one. That title has scratches and other damage throughout, including at least one dropped frame. In lieu of an actual restoration, it's for the best that they left everything alone rather than trying to erase them with automated tools, but it definitely doesn't look as good as The Bank Dick, and neither of them look anywhere near as good as the lovely restoration for My Little Chickadee. But they're all still upgrades from SD, and well worth picking up.