Barnes & Noble

This indispensable collection contains six of W. C. Fields's best-known comic shorts in one tidy package. Although none of these films is as stringent as his classic feature The Bank Dick, they nevertheless give viewers the opportunity to see the master's nascent persona emerging -- flashing glimpses of the weary misanthrope that was to become Fields's specialty. Camera trickery is employed to enhance a not-so-friendly game between romantic rivals in Fields's first film, the silent Pool Shark. Our man utterly fails to tee off in The Golf Specialist, a wickedly elaborate exercise in futility. The Fatal Glass of Beer offers an outrageous parody of Frozen North melodramas. And The Dentist, The Pharmacist, and The Barber Shop all play variations on the basic theme of Fields as a middle class tradesman juggling family woes with professional troubles. Each of these hilarious shorts is simply constructed: A stock comic situation is set up, and Fields proceeds to riff on it, brilliantly, for a reel or two. They add up to a magnificent collection, one that allows the acerbic genius of this American original to shine through. Amy Robinson

Product Details

• UPC: 715515010726
• Source: CRITERION
• Aspect Ratio: Pre-1954 Standard (1.33.1)
• Presentation: B&W
• Sound: silent, Dolby Digital Mono
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Time: 1:55:00
• Sales Rank: 6,224

This set contains DVDs which may be available separately:

• The Golf Specialist
• Pool Sharks
• The Pharmacist
• The Fatal Glass of Beer
• The Barber Shop
• The Dentist

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