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For anyone who loves classic comedy, the W.C. Fields Comedy Collection is absolutely essential. Film for film, this may be the best DVD showcase ever devoted to a single comedian, including all five of Fields's acknowledged classics in a sturdy, beautifully designed library-quality slipcase. One could easily lament the relative lack of bonus features (it would have been nice to have some vintage Fields radio shows and newsreel footage), but the inclusion of A&E's 1994 Biography documentary W.C. Fields: Behind the Laughter is sufficiently informative about Fields's life, career, irascible personality, and tragic alcoholism. That's all that's really needed when the films themselves are so timelessly entertaining, and they're all remarkably pristine in sound and image quality. The best way to appreciate Fields's evolving screen persona is to view these films in chronological order: In International House (1933), Fields was merely one of many Paramount stars of screen and radio (including Rudy Vallee, Burns & Allen, Bela Lugosi, Sterling Holloway, and manic bandleader Cab Calloway), but he handily steals the show, invading a Shanghai hotel in his airplane/helicopter and delivering the classic line (to Franklin Pangborn), "Don't let the posy fool ya!" It's one of Paramount's best all-star revues.
It's a Gift (1934) is a remake of Fields's 1926 silent It's the Old Army Game, and was the first sound feature devoted to Fields's inimitable talent. As beleaguered husband and would-be orange farmer, Fields revives vintage routines from Vaudeville and Broadway, and his first encounter with Baby LeRoy is comedy gold. You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939) features Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy and Fields's classic, still-hilarious ping-pong routine, while 1940's My Little Chickadee matches Fields (as "Guthbert J. Twillie") with Mae West, whose unforgettable on-screen banter with Fields shows no sign of their notorious off-screen animosity. In his raucous masterpiece The Bank Dick (also 1940), Fields is "Egbert Souse," lowly bank guard, unlikely hero, and manic driver in perhaps the greatest slapstick car-chase scene ever filmed. Despite the regrettable absence of Fields's final starring feature Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, this classy five-disc set is a veritable cornucopia of comedy, offering ample proof of Fields's comic genius through classic one-liners, physical routines, memorable costars, and perfect bits of business that never grow old. --Jeff Shannon
Product Description
W.C. Fields is an American original, the curmudgeonly master of wit and good, mean fun. In this collection of madcap classics, the famously top-hatted Fields unleashes his unique comic zing, proving himself the king of the one-liner. This special DVD collection includes The Bank Dick, My Little Chickadee, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, It's a Gift and International House. The W.C. Fields Comedy Collection is Fields at his finest, and a must-have for anyone who loves to laugh!
Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I consider WC Fields one of the funniest men that ever performed on the 'silver screen'. His comedy plays on the foibles of human nature without resorting to vulgarity, something that many of today's comedians seem to be incapable of. I can't imagine anyone watching a WC Fields movie and not being moved to laughter at least a few times. I thoroughly enjoyed this compilation of his best known films and I heartily recommend it to anyone.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By jonas
Format:DVD
Avec sa dégaine de loubarde, ses oeillades appuyées et sa silhouette à l'opposé des canons actuels (mais qui avait fait d'elle un sex-symbole de son temps) Mae West peut paraître démodée. Cependant, intelligente, rouée, à la répartie qui fait mouche, sympathique, Mae symbolise la revanche du petit peuple américain sur les aristocrates anglais d'abord et ceux qui, américains, se prétendent plus ou moins en descendre, celle aussi du vrai bon sens contre les conventions et les "bonnes" manières, enfin l'affirmation de la liberté (de ton, d'allure, de conduite dans la vie) par rapport aux standards figés des années 30.Si on les replace dans leur contexte, la plupart de ses films - dont elle écrit la plupart du temps le scénario et les dialogues - ont extrêmement bien vieilli et apparaissent même si décapants, si originaux qu'ils en deviennent "jouissifs". Ce coffret regroupe cinq de ses films les plus célèbres et permet dans de bonnes conditions techniques (excellents transferts, belle présentation, VO sous titrée français) de se familiariser avec une des figures les plus populaires et les plus originales de l'avant guerre américaine.
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've got both volumes and the movies are some of the funniest I've seen. Get both volumes and see one of the greatest comedians.
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Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
W.C. Fields & Mae West: What Euphoneous Appellations!
MY LITTLE CHICKADEE was originally released to mixed reviews, but by the 1970s a revival of interest in both W.C. Read more
Published on April 26 2002 by Gary F. Taylor
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Sad Relic of Mae, a Fine Example of Fields
Mae West was certainly not your classic beauty, but sauntering into Hollywood at the age of 40 (!) she was somehow very attractive, if more in a "just can't take your eyes... Read more
Published on Dec 20 2001 by findkeep@eburg.com
3.0 out of 5 stars
A FIELDS WEST-ERN.
This well-known film is corny but fun. The off-beat casting of the leads make MY LITTLE CHICKADEE a unique movie experience (which should have been better! Read more
Published on Aug 8 2001 by "scotsladdie"
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