4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
W.C. Field plus Burns & Allen in a 1934 road comedy, March 30, 2002
This review is from: Six of a Kind [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Note: Because there is a twin-pack that offers both the 1934 W.C. Fields film "Six of a Kind" and his classic 1940 film "The Bank Dick," the reviews for those two movies, both together and individually, are all cross-referenced. However, this is just a review of "Six of a Kind," the lesser known of the two Fields films.
Directed by Leo McCarey, "Six of a Kind" finds J. Pinkham Whinney (Charlie Ruggles) and his wife Flora (Mary Boland), planning a second honeymoon in Hollywood, California. They advertise for a couple to share expenses on the trip and end up with not only George Edward (George Burns) and Gracie DeVore (Gracie Allen), but their gigantic Great Dane. Meanwhile, Ferguson (Bradley Page), one of the other clerks at the bank where Whinney works has put $50,000 into the unsuspecting man's suitcase intending to rob him the first night on the road. Of course, Gracie makes the group go a different way and it takes a while for Ferguson and his gal Trixie (Grace Bradley) to catch up.
The resolution involves the sheriff of a Nevada town, John Hoxley (W.C. Fields) and innkeeper, Mrs. Rumford (Alison Skipworth), and the hilarious arrest sequence top off this above average comedy. Fields and Skipworth had been paired together successful in several previous films, including "Tillie and Gus" and while they work well together as the last pair making up the "Six" of the title. The other scene that really stands out is when Fields plays another one of his famous billiard games where the cue is a tad warped. Ruggles and Boland are supposedly the "stars" of the film, but of course the comedy team of Burns & Allen upstage them: when they first meet, Mrs. Whinney thinks the couple are interior decorators because Gracie is changing everything in their living room. As an example of the "road comedy" pictures of this period, of which "It Happened One Night" is obviously the best, "Six of a Kind" makes fun of the new fangled idea of taking a vacation that is mainly traveling in a car for a really long period of time. I do not think this is a great W.C. Fields film, but it is certainly above average and having Burns & Allen involved is not exactly a bad thing either.
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11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A classic 30's Paramount comedy....., August 3, 2000
This review is from: Six of a Kind [VHS] (VHS Tape)
So, it is only 70 minutes long, but it is just the correct Paramount length for its comedies in the '30s. Fields steals the show as "Honest John", hilarious in the pool room routine, one of his old vaudeville specialties. George and Gracie are a bit overbearing as the unmarried riders in Charlie Ruggles' and Mary Boland's second honeymoon trip, and a subplot of missing loot. Put it all together and you have a nice little package, not everyone's best film, but a keeper all the same. Now if Paramount/Universal would release the rest of Bill Fields' output--but that is another story.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Certainly worth a look if you like classic comedy., April 30, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Six of a Kind [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The plot itself is very thin, but who cares. The comedians make the film. Ruggles and Boland might be kinda boring, but Burns, Allen, and Fields more than make up for it. It always is remarkable to me how funny and likable Fields could be while playing a character without any morals. He is very funny here, especially when he relates the story of how he got his nickname while playing pool. A fun little piece of comedy, worth a look by fans of Burns/Allen or Fields.
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