Man on the Flying Trapeze

1935 comedy

Rating: 16/20

Plot: Ambrose Wolfinger (I love these names in W.C. Fields' movies) has a shrew for a wife. To compound things, he lives with his mother-in-law and his no-good, unemployed brother-in-law. At least his daughter is nice to him. After brushing his teeth, he goes to bed, but the couple are awakened when a pair of burglars begin singing in the cellar. This somehow results in Ambrose being arrested. The following day, he really wants to go to a wrestling match, so he tells his boss that he's got to attend his mother-in-law's funeral and gets the afternoon off. If his plans worked, we wouldn't have much of a comedy.

Hey, guess who's in this movie. Go ahead. Take a guess. No, not the Yugoslavan Burt Reynolds. Nope, Don Knotts isn't in this. Buddy Hackett? No, he's not in Man on the Flying Trapeze. Shirley Temple? No, but that's a good guess. Give up? Tor Johnson is in this movie! Tor Freakin' Johnson of Bride of the Monster and Plan 9 from Outer Space fame. Tor Johnson, the beast in The Beast of Yucca Flats. Fields' character in this is more likable. You don't always feel sorry for his characters, but Ambrose works hard and puts up with more than an Eskimo. And as things get more and more complicated, Wolfinger remains indomitable, unflappable. There's nothing really hysterically funny going on here, but the absurdity of the uber-bungling burglars delivering their extended rendition of "On the Banks of the Wabash," Wolfinger's traffic problems, and the mother-in-law's discovery that she has passed away are pretty funny. And I loved Wolfinger's truthful lying upon his return home after the wrestling match. After this movie ends in a satisfying way, there's another tacked-on abrupt ending that falls flat, but it doesn't change the fact that Tor Johnson is in this movie. My main gripe, probably a big one, is Mrs. Wolfinger played by Kathleen Howard. She's really obnoxious, that 1930s kind of obnoxious, and I couldn't stand her. Of course, that was likely the point.

It's a Gift

1934 comedy

Rating: 16/20

Plot: A hen-pecked grocery store owner with a bulbous proboscis decides it's prudent to sell it all and move his wife and two kids to California to become orange orchardaires.

Add Tommy Bupp to the list of terrible child acting performances. Did directors tell all 1930s child actors, "Hey, in this scene, I want you to scrunch up your face and scream your lines," or did all children in the 1930s just act that way naturally, something to do with the Great Depression or something? I enjoyed this movie, but it suffers a bit from the same problem that every W.C. Fields movie--there's a flimsy plot, less a plot actually and more of an excuse to just string together some very funny scenes. Ultimately, it doesn't matter a bit because those scenes are very funny. The film's in ten-or-so minute chunks where a situation is set up so that funny stuff happens. Fields' Bissonette has difficulty shaving, locating kumquats and controlling a blind man, sleeping peacefully, getting his car started, and having a picnic. The genius of Fields in this is that the funny comes without overdoing things. It's a stark contrast to the supporting cast (although to be fair, the wife's hamminess is a necessity), Fields subtlety, comic timing, and delivery shining naturally. The one-liners sparkle and the visual gags surprise. It's a Gift is a joke movie, a written comedy, but there is a lot of visual humor, some, I'm positive, that I missed. This is definitely the type of comedy you have to watch and listen to closely. You won't want to miss anything. My favorite moment: "She walked right in front of the car."

Cory's recommendation.