OLD-FASHIONED WAY, THE (director: William Beaudine; screenwriters: from a story by Charles Bogle [W.C. Fields]/Jack Cunningham/Garnett Weston; cinematographer: Benjamin F. Reynolds; cast: W.C. Fields (Great McGonigle), Joe Morrison (Wally Livingston), Judith Allen (Betty McGonigle), Jan Duggan (Cleopatra Pepperday), Nora Cecil (Mrs. Wendelschaffer), Baby Le Roy (Albert Pepperday), Joe Mills (Charles Lowell), Jack Mulhall (Dick Bronson), Tammany Young (Marmaduke Gump, company manager), Oscar Apfel (Mr. Livingston, Wally's Father), Clarence H. Wilson (Sheriff Prettywillie); Runtime: 74; Paramount; 1934)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A joyous W.C. Fields homage to the travelling vaudeville troupes during the end of the 19th century. It's a different version from the silent screen one that bombed, as here Fields is allowed to ad lib and do his thing. The director is the infamous William Beaudine, who was known for taking only "one take" when shooting.
W.C. Fields plays the Great McGonigle, the egotistical, windbag manager of a theatrical troupe that hasn't been paid by him and distinguishes itself by sneaking out of boarding houses undetected without paying, and by avoiding the sheriffs who come to hunt them down.
The Great McGonigle flees from a sheriff with a court order for him to pay his bills; he and his theater company go by train and head for the small town in Ohio called Bellefontaine, where he is scheduled to perform a melodrama called The Drunkard. He uses the hospitality of the wealthy widow Cleopatra Pepperday (Jan Duggan) to avoid the show being closed by sheriffs from all over the country who serve him court orders for payment's due, as she is willing to pay his debts and only wishes for a part in his play. He uses her as a foil for his comic antics and whittles her promised juicy part in the play down to one line, and even that is up in the air.
The funniest scene is when McGonigle dines with the widow and her young son Albert (Baby Le Roy). The kid tweaks McGonigle's big red nose, drops his watch in a jar of molasses, throws food in his face, and gets the better of McGonigle in all their confrontations.
There's a bland romance between McGonigle's nice daughter, Betty (Judith Allen), who is the star performer in the show, and rich college boy, runaway, Wally Livingston (Joe Morrison), who's in love with Betty and follows her wherever she goes.
McGonigle's manager, Gump (Tammany Young), has the distinction of catering to all his boss's needs; such as, helping him dress, packing the bags when they skip town, and going along with all of McGonigle's chicanery.
Fields is in fine comic form here, even doing a ridiculous juggling act with a cigar-box. The comedy all revolves around his financial woes, and is funny in an old-fashioned way.
REVIEWED ON 6/18/2001 GRADE: B-
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
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