W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films (Criterion Collection Spine #78)
by Arthur Ripley, Clyde Bruckman, Edwin Middleton, Leslie Pearce, Monte Brice
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Arnold Gray, Dorothy Granger, Elise Cavanna, Marjorie Kane, W.C. FieldsDirector: Arthur Ripley, Clyde Bruckman, Edwin Middleton, Leslie Pearce, Monte Brice
Brand: Image Entertainment
Writer: W.C. Fields
Producer: Lou Brock
Producer: Mack Sennett
DVD: 2 Sides, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: Pan & Scan, 1.33:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-08-22
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films (Criterion Collection Spine #78)
Movie Review: The great W.C. Fields lengthens his career in shorts
Summary: 4 Stars
The Criterion Collection (who also distribute the Jacques Tati films) tackle the astounding enigma that is W.C. Fields in this string of short films. Short subjects helped establish many a comedian's reputation, and Fields was no exception. The running time was perfect for the comedy routines which Fields honed to perfection nearly every night on stage earlier on.
"Pool Sharks" is Fields' debut in 1915. Being a silent, it relies heavily on the old "two-rivals-fight-over-the-girl" story, a stock cliche back in those days. They use some primitive stop-action effects to pull off the trick pool shots, which, in its way, has charm. But even at such an early date, you can see Fields' rascally characterization already developing. "The Golf Specialist" is Fields' first talkie, a golf game (which never gets played) sandwiched between beginning & ending storylines as an excuse for doing the routine. It's been done before (almost verbatim in his feature "You're Telling Me"), but Fields' idiosyncrasies manage to make it just as funny. "The Dentist", his first for producer Mack Sennett, sets up another Fields routine. Forever notorious for its sight gag of a female patient who suggestively wraps her legs around Fields while he extracts a tooth must have raised many eyebrows back then, and even now. The real treat here is the classic "The Fatal Glass of Beer", an offbeat comedy short satirizing all those "snowed-in-the-Yukon" operas. Fields is really in top form here as he tosses out funny lines (particularly the running gag line of "It ain't a fit night out for man or beast", and gets a fistful of snow in his face). "The Pharmacist" has its moments too, as Fields plays a role he often did in features--that of the henpecked husband & harassed father. The short is climaxed with a cops/robbers shootout which nearly reduces Fields' quaint store to kindling. And finally, "The Barber Shop" scores with some wild sight gags as Fields contends with hot towels on the face, saunas, criminals, and children.
All of these shorts serve as, more or less, framework for Fields' routines. "The Dentist", in particular, suffers slightly with the insertion of an annoying musical score, punctuating the scenes; it simply doesn't need it! What these shorts do offer is pure Fields doing what he does best, without the intrusion of banal romantic subplots or musical productions found in feature films.
Summary of W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films (Criterion Collection Spine #78)
W. C. Fields' prolific career placed him at the forefront of slapstick comedy. Gathered here are six gems that feature the comic genius at his peak: The Golf Specialist, Pool Sharks (silent), The Pharmacist, The Fatal Glass of Beer, The Barber Shop, and, of course, the notorious The Dentist. This unique collection will delight new generations of viewers with Fields' hilariously sardonic routines.Ten years elapsed between W.C. Fields's debut in the 1915 short "The Pool Sharks" and his role in D.W. Griffith's Sally of the Sawdust, but it didn't take long for Fields to become one of the all-time great screen comedians. This essential collection--the silent "The Pool Sharks" plus the five "two-reeler" sound shorts that established Fields's acerbic style--provides a comprehensive document of the comedian's work in progress. "The Pool Sharks" develops a routine that Fields created in vaudeville and later perfected on film, with stop-motion animation used here to realize the comedian's wacky luck at billiards. It's a clever appetizer, but Fields was a verbal comic, so the two-reelers are the full-course meal.
Like the Marx brothers' The Cocoanuts a year earlier, 1930's "The Golf Specialist" mines humor from high jinks in sunny Florida, where Fields is nearly upstaged by a stone-faced golf caddy. The classic "The Dentist," despite the later addition of strident musical cues, is presented in its entirety, including an oft-censored bit in which Fields tugs a molar from a woman who's wrapped around him in a highly suggestive position. "The Pharmacist" and "The Barbershop" are variations on the theme, allowing Fields to toss off bons mots and scathing sarcasm, but it's the anomalous "The Fatal Glass of Beer"--a hilarious send-up of Yukon gold-rush adventures--that proves an unlikely highlight. It's typically sour-pussed in its agenda, with a running gag (involving the line "It ain't a fit night out for man nor beast") that just grows funnier with each repetition. Fields's comedy wasn't fully developed here--he became masterful in later features--but 6 Short Films is crucial in demonstrating his rapid refinement of the vintage Fields persona. --Jeff Shannon
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