Customer Reviews

Six of a Kind [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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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.

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.

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.

We were very glad to get a copy of this very old video. (Had a copy before but it was lost)It isw good for a lot of laughs...especially the scene of W.C. Fields playing pool

Ruggles and Boland, as J. Pinkham and Florence Whiney, are about to depart on a cross-country second honeymoon to Hollywood, for which they make the mistake of advertising for a companion couple........The idea of putting no fewer than six seasoned comedy actors into one movie was an inspired one for Paramount. Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland were already a popular co-starring duo at that studio; the hilarious radio team of straight-man George Burns and scatterbrained Gracie Allen were also giving films a try; Alison Skipworth was a formidible character actress for both comedy and drama, and Fields, with his nasal, descending-scale line readings, was a unique comedy attraction with a large, specialised following. Leo McCarey, their director on this occasion, had just survived one the the Marx Bros. most fondly remembered vehicles: DUCK SOUP. Wild gags, both visual and verbal abound in SIX OF A KIND with each of the aforementioned six performing their specialties in a Walter DeLeon-Harry Ruskin script that appropriately sets the scene for uninhibited farce. A short (65 minutes) episodic film, the movie isn't quite the comedy classic it might have been, but there are classic scenes such as that giant hound growling in the back seat ; there's a tree which saves both Ruggles and Boland from a fall of a cliff..............A wee bit too much of Gracie Allen at her most annoyingly obnoxious makes one wish that the writers could have distributed the balance of scenes with a bit more equality among its stars.

this is a great w.c.fields film,but fields does not show up until later, but its still classic fields, the rest of this film is just one little fluffy joke after another, good burns and allen, but fields steals the show in the final part of this film this is just good fun,this is something you can show the kids,and then spend the night telling them,this was a movie with no point to prove. no message,no cause,nothing but good fun.. buy this for the fun of it.... bill t.

Jeers to Paramount Pictures for attempting to squeeze as many big name comedians into a movie that runs less than 70 minutes. The plot is supposed to center around a married couple (played by Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland) who plan to go to California for their second honeymoon. My favorite scene was Mary, prior to the trip, arguing on the telephone with the newspaper man over a petty "20 cents" when she was already overdrawn! Later, in comes George Burns and Gracie Allen who also want to go to California, and answered the couple's ad about sharing expenses on the trip. It seemed to me the movie makers could not decide which funny couple to showcase more: Charlie and Mary, or George and Gracie. Each couple has their own comedy bits which are hilarious, but their antics simply don't work with all four of them together and just bounce off. Also in this film is W.C. Fields, another big talent that was wasted here. This film could have been much more entertaining had it only been Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland themselves with a cast of unknowns, or George and Gracie with unknowns. W.C. Fields' character was so annoying and bothersome, it would have been better to strike it from the script. Even the box in which this video is sold is misleading. The cover shows a painting of George and Gracie in the front seat of a Model T with Fields in the back seat. That is completely false. Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland were the ones who arranged the trip and were the ones in front. George and Gracie were in the backseat the whole time; just along for the ride. W.C. Fields NEVER rode with them anywhere. While all of the personalities did their very best with the material they had here, it proves that too much of a good thing is bad. "Six of a Kind" is a pair too many.