Clyde Bruckman’s Man on the Flying Trapeze offers W.C. Fields metaphorically maneuvering soul-crushing life conflicts and always managing to land on his feet.
The Production: 4/5
Ace comedian W.C. Fields may have played the victim card a bit too mawkishly in Clyde Bruckman’s Man on the Flying Trapeze, but the film is undeniably funny, only seeming less important by virtue of its coming immediately after Fields’ masterpiece It’s a Gift which would be near impossible to top. The Great Man must face a multiplicity of adversaries during a typical night and day of his beleaguered life, but face them he does in another of his Paramount-era henpecked husband comedies.
Ambrose Wolfinger (W.C. Fields) hasn’t had a day off from his job as a memory expert in over twenty-five years, so he is determined to take the afternoon off to attend a highly anticipated wrestling match. In order to beg off the time, he lies to his boss (Oscar Apfel) that his belittling mother-in-law (Vera Lewis) has passed away and he wants to attend her funeral, a lie that catches up to him and leads to all kinds of trouble. It’s just another in a series of catastrophes that have recently befallen the luckless Ambrose.
W.C. Fields concocted the story (under his familiar pseudonym Charles Bogle) with Sam Hardy who then fleshed out a (thin) screenplay with co-writer Ray Harris. They begin their story with two hilarious set pieces: Ambrose getting ready for bed in excruciatingly minute detail to the continual haranguing of his nagging wife Leona (Kathleen Howard) and his subsequent investigation in the middle of the night of two prowlers (Fields’ favorite Tammany Young and Walter Brennan) who break in seeking silverware to steal, only to get sidetracked by some hard apple cider they help themselves to leading to a drunken serenade in the basement. Poor Ambrose meets further roadblocks in court, in jail, and later in a sequence where triple traffic violations result in non-stop merriment for the viewer as he can’t catch a single break in trying to leave a restricted parking zone. With everyone against him at home (wife, mother-in-law, and dastardly brother-in-law – Grady Sutton of all people) apart from his loving daughter played Mary Brian, the film doesn’t offer the put-upon Ambrose much refuge from the constant barrages of physical and emotional abuse. Director Clyde Bruckman (who allegedly didn’t actually do much on the film resulting in Fields having to direct the project) gives us more wrestling footage than one might expect in setting up an important joke, but the pratfalls (a beauty down the cellar stairs) and gags at Fields’ expense are set up nicely.
W.C. Fields often cast himself as the put-upon victim of spousal abuse, so he knows just how to play it (though there is a continuity error with his socks preparing to assault the burglars that becomes noticeable later), and he’s effective here though one wishes a little more of the belligerent Fields would show up in dealing with his sponging in-laws (no matter, they get their climactic comeuppance in the film’s final sight gag). Mary Brian is an effective loving daughter Fields almost always wrote into his stories. Kathleen Howard reprises amusingly her harridan wife from It’s a Gift while one almost blanches when heretofore mild, milquetoast Grady Sutton shows a vengeful, spiteful side to his personality as the lazy wastrel Claude Neselrode. Oscar Apfel as Ambrose’s supportive boss and Lucien Littlefield as the less understanding assistant Mr. Peabody likewise contribute to the fun. Fields’ real-life significant other Carlotta Monti plays his secretary in the office, given a little more to do here than she would in other brief appearances in his movies.
Video: 4/5
3D Rating: NA
The film’s 1.37:1 original theatrical aspect ratio is faithfully reproduced here in a 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. While touted as a new 2K master, the image quality is above average but certainly not without flaws. Black levels in the grayscale aren’t always the deepest, and there are dust specks and other minor anomalies here and there. Sharpness is fine, however, and the overall image quality is pleasing. The movie has been divided into 8 chapters.
Audio: 4.5/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound mix does what it can with its ancient sound elements. There is a bit of minor hiss, but nothing that stands out, and other aural artifacts like crackle, pops, and flutter aren’t noticeable. Dialogue has been well recorded and mixed well with the expected sound effects.
Special Features: 2/5
An Affectionate Look at W.C. Fields (51:52, SD): Canadian comedians Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster host a special devoted to celebrating the uniqueness of W. C. Fields. They show clips of some of his famous billiard, golf, and poker routines from both Paramount and Universal era films including It’s a Gift, Poppy, Mississippi, You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man, The Bank Dick, My Little Chickadee, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, and One in a Million and feature co-stars like Baby LeRoy, Mae West, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Bing Crosby, Una Merkel, and Alison Skipworth.
Theatrical Trailer (2:37, SD)
W.C. Fields/Kino Trailers: You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man, The Bank Dick, My Little Chickadee, Alice in Wonderland.
Overall: 4/5
Clyde Bruckman’s Man on the Flying Trapeze offers W.C. Fields metaphorically maneuvering soul-crushing life conflicts and always managing to land on his feet. How fortunate that another of his Paramount-era classics has now been made available by Kino Lorber in high definition for his many fans to savor to the fullest.
Man on the Flying Trapeze
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Matt has been reviewing films and television professionally since 1974 and has been a member of Home Theater Forum’s reviewing staff since 2007, his reviews now numbering close to three thousand. During those years, he has also been a junior and senior high school English teacher earning numerous entries into Who’s Who Among America’s Educators and spent many years treading the community theater boards as an actor in everything from Agatha Christie mysteries to Stephen Sondheim musicals.
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