Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Jackson Booth-Millard I found this film listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and I recognised the name of the leading legendary comedy actor, so I was looking forward to what it had to offer, directed by Norman Z. McLeod (Monkey Business, Pennies from Heaven, The Paleface). Basically Harold Bissonette (W.C. Fields) ("pronounced biss-on-ay") is the owner of a general grocery store, he decides to give up his business after he inherits some money, and to move to California and run an orange grove. Bissonette packs up and drives out to California, despite the objections of his family, nagging wife Amelia (Kathleen Howard), self-involved daughter Mildred (Jean Rouverol) and bothersome son Norman (Tommy Bupp), he also gets the news that the land he has purchased is worthless. Bissonette's wife softens and figures he made a good purchase after they have passed several prosperous orange groves, it is confirmed his barren plot contains only a tumbledown shack, and a tumbleweed, his disgusted wife and children walk out on him, his car collapses under his weight as he sits on it. There is a point when Harold is forced by Amelia to sleep on the porch, he spends a length amount of time trying to get comfortable on the hanging bench, and distracted by various loud noises and calamities around him, until finally the bench collapses. However Harold's luck changes when a neighbour informs him that a developer is desperate to acquire his land to build a race track grandstand, Harold stands up for himself, and up to his nagging wife, he holds out for a large sum of money. The film ends with Harold squeezing an orange for juice into a glass, his family are happy are family and take off in their new car, the now content Harold pours a flask of booze into the small amount of orange juice. Also starring Julian Madison as John Durston, Baby LeRoy as Baby Dunk, Tammany Young as Everett Ricks, Morgan Wallace as James Fitchmueller, Charles Sellon as Mr. Muckle, Josephine Whittell as Mrs. Dunk and T. Roy Barnes as Insurance Salesman. Fields became popular for his comic persona as a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist, he is certainly likable despite snarling a lot of the time, I will be honest and say I had to concentrate to get the story, but the long sustained porch sequence is a great sketch, and there is a fabulously funny sequence with a blind man walking across a busy road, all in all a worthwhile classic comedy. Good!

gavin6942 A henpecked New Jersey grocer (W. C. Fields) makes plans to move to California to grow oranges, despite the resistance of his overbearing wife.The film contains certain routines, having been honed, that Fields had developed 1915-1925. Fields often tried to recapture on film original sketches that had been the basis of his stage success. Thus 'The Picnic', 'A Joy Ride' and most famously, 'The Back Porch', all become segments of "It's a Gift".Lesser known than some of Fields' later works such as "The Bank Dick", the film is perhaps the best example of the recurring theme of the Everyman battling against his domestic entrapment. Historians and critics have often cited its numerous memorable comic moments. It is one of several Paramount Pictures in which Fields contended with child actor Baby LeRoy.While much of the film is humorous and you can really feel for Fields, the key moment of the film has to be the blind man in the store, while a second customer keeps yelling bout his kumquats. It as the only part I literally laughed out loud and more than once. I had no idea that "kumquat" was such a funny word.

dimplet It's hard to rate an old movie like this because they don't make 'em like this anymore. And while Fields does a fine job, most of the rest of the acting is pretty bad; I did like the old blind guy, though. For today's audiences, I'm afraid the rating is not so high as it would have been if I were watching this back in 1934. But then, it might have looked better in a big, dark movie theater with an audience and a bucket of popcorn on a Saturday afternoon, than alone on my laptop. It's easier to laugh when there are other people laughing around you. And in 1934, people needed all the excuses for laughter they could get. There's not much of a script or plot here; It's a Gift probably has about the fewest words for a movie since the silent days. There aren't many of the trademark clever comebacks and double entendres from Fields. What it does have is a long-suffering, hen pecked W.C. Fields. This time around he is the normal human being in the story, while everyone else around him is obnoxious. Normal? Any other (modern) normal person would slug this wife, or at least divorce her. I couldn't help but think about how divorce was nearly as illegal as abortion back then. Yet, Fields doesn't lose his temper. And what makes It's a Gift funny, or at least interesting, is the way Fields conveys his suppressed desire to strangle everyone in his family wordlessly through what would today be called body language. He moves slowly, but every part of his motion conveys emotion. And you know what he's going through. The scenes of suffering drag on and on, masochistically, and without any music soundtrack, such as Fields trying to shave with a cut throat razor while his daughter preens and gargles at the sink, or Fields trying to sleep on the porch, as a coconut slowly rattles and bangs down every step of the stairs. It is the very slowness of these scenes that makes them so deliciously tormenting. Fields is conveying humor by manipulating time, slowing it down to a painful crawl. I can't imagine anyone standing for that in a modern hyperkinetic movie, which is a shame. Of all the W.C. Fields films, in this one his humor most resembles the slow and sad Buster Keaton. I could easily see Keaton playing this role. Too bad Keaton self-destructed with the advent of talkies, though he did eventually make a comeback around 1960 with an appearance on a time- travel episode of The Twilight Zone. As to Fields, I do not think this is his funniest or most characteristic film. My favorite Fields movie, by far, is International House, which I've seen many times. Many of his funniest works are shorts. And some wonderful excerpts can be viewed on youtube, among them, Fields playing his unique style of ping pong. And then there's David Copperfield (1935) with Fields playing Micawber. The great Charles Laughton turned down this role, saying he could not do it justice, and recommended Fields, instead. It's astonishing to think that there are people who have never heard of W.C. Fields. But if this were his only movie, it would be understandable.

kenjha A New Jersey store owner receives an inheritance that allows him to pursue his dream of owning an orange grove in California. Enjoyable comedy has Fields in top form as a henpecked husband, with Howard well cast as his nagging wife. Highlights include early scenes of Fields getting ready to go work while dealing with his crazy family and a later scene where he is catering to a blind customer in his store. While not always laugh out loud funny, this is one of those films that one watches with a smile on his face throughout. Fields doesn't go for overly broad comedy, instead staying within character as a simple man reaching for his dreams.