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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
W.C. Fields and Crystal Springs society., February 14, 2001
This review is from: You're Telling Me [VHS] (VHS Tape)
"You're Telling Me" is amusing nonsense from one of the great film comedians. We see Fields' screen persona begin to take shape in Sam Bisbee. Sam is an inventor of such peculiar devices as the "nose lifter-upper," the "murder chair" (for catching burglars), and his puncture-proof tire. Sam also drinks. He stumbles home at midnight, and tries to persuade his long-suffering wife that it's only 8:30. In this opening segment, we observe Fields' comic timing and his juggler training as he fumbles with his shoes and his straw hat. A running theme in Fields' movies is the debunking of upper crust snobbery and phony middle class morality. His modest home includes some very pretentious draperies around the living room doorway. Tipsy Sam finds he can't pass the draperies without becoming entangled in the cumbersome sash. Fields stresses physical humor, sight gags, and his trademark hilarious "asides." He chronically has trouble finding his own head with his hat, and anyone unexpectedly coming at him constantly startle him. After he fails to sell his puncture-proof tire in the big city, Sam befriends a mysterious woman on the train trip home. This sets up an hilarious plot twist that has Sam fraternizing with polite society. The mayor asks Sam to tee-off the first ball at the town's new golf course. This gives Fields the ideal chance to do his classic "golf game" routine, complete with a dim-witted caddy. The movie looks dated in places, but it has been restored nicely. Repeated viewing doesn't diminish the laughs. ;-)
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
WC Fields - What More Do You Need To Know?, August 25, 2001
This review is from: You're Telling Me [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Though not without flaw (what is Buster Crabbe DOING here??), YOU'RE TELLING ME! has many hilarious setpieces and equally choice throwaway bits of business. Then again, you'd expect that from William Claude: what might surprise you is his delicate touch when pathos and tenderness are called for. The scene on the train where a despondent Fields, playing struggling eccentric inventor Sam Bisbee, accidentally meets a travelling Princess and tries to talk her out of 'suicide' (she had no such plans...but HE did, in a moment of despair) is quite unexpectedly moving. It's not so much the scene as written that affects the viewer as it is Fields' flawless playing of it. Plot contrivance it may be, but the easy, simple grace he brings to his line readings - the small, near-imperceptible shadings of wistfulness and regret in his voice, facial expressions & body language - all give testimony to this brilliant comic actor's mastery of craft, and his ability to draw water from the well of his own loneliness. Don't misunderstand; this is a side-splitting comedy. Much of the comedy is purely visual; all of it is unforgettable. But never make the error of short-counting WC Fields, or confuse him with an impressionist's caricature. Where other clowns tried their damndest to make you laugh till it hurts, Fields knew his gift was to create a character forever set-upon and assaulted by a blithe, uncaring parade determined to pass him by - a man who hurt till all you can do is laugh. You'll laugh often throughout this 65-minute model of construction and economy, but watching Fields trampled underfoot again - warily rising to his feet with no higher expectation than a brief, sweet respite before his next inevitable shellacking from the fates and furies - you might just get an idea of why they called him 'The Great Man'. Go on, spend the money and get this.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A LESSER-KNOWN FIELDS GEM., January 28, 2003
This review is from: You're Telling Me [VHS] (VHS Tape)
A remake of Field's 1926 silent SO'S YOUR OLD MAN has W.C. playing Sam Bisbee, a drunk and an unsuccessful inventor who resides in the small town of Crystal Springs. His daughter Pauline (Joan Marsh) hopes to marry Bob (Larry "Buster" Crabbe), the son of the well-to-do haughty Murchisons. Mrs. Murchison is livid about her son's association with Pauline - until she finds that Mrs. Bisbee's maiden name was Warren: she's a descendant of a prominent Virginia family. Amusing comical antics ensue...The title of the picture comes from an inside line: Sam tells Marie (the lovely Adrienne Ames) "We certainly put that Princess stuff over, didn't we"? To which Marie replies: "You're telling me"!. Field's golf sketch was first used in the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1915 on Broadway. Later, Fields reprised the routine in THE SPECIALIST an early talkie short from 193O. As a piece of genuine trivia, the character Robert McKenzie plays - Charlie Bogle - was the real-life pseudonym Field used as a screenwriter for various films
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