Transcript: W.C. Fields Classic Comedy Blu-rays on Retro Drive-In Podcast

Greetings, classic cinema and TV fans. This is Jason Lockhart, Pastor Jay, here with you again on a retro drive-in podcast. And this time around, we are going back in time to talk about one of my favorite comedians of all time. I'm talking about William Claude Dukenfield. Okay. Okay, maybe you don't know that name. Maybe you do know that name. I don't know. But William Claude Dukenfield is actually known under his better name in Hollywood as W.C. Fields. Yes, the comedian W.C. Fields. W.C. Fields was known for his love of the drink and his disdain for dogs and kids. Hello little girl, how old are you? Five years old. Five years old? Will you give me a dollar to put in my bank? I'll give you a dollar to put in your bank. If you'll sing me a song. Give me a dollar first. Ah, you're more than five, go and get out of here. W.C. Fields started out in vaudeville and was pretty amazing, juggler and comedian and all kinds of stuff. And he caught the eye of Hollywood and ended up being in many short films, you know, silent films. And he began to do his thing and all. And then talkies came in. A lot of people, when you talk about this now, they can't even imagine there was a time when you couldn't talk on film. But it was. There was a point where there was no talking on film. It was silent films. and the idea of being able to transition from the silence into the talkies just didn't work for a lot of actors. They just couldn't transition. W.C. Fields actually was able to transition from the silent films into the talkies very easily and he did many amazing short films during his career. he would then transition from the short films into the big blockbuster well not big blockbuster but big big releases the feature films and he would star in many of his own films many of which are collected in this collection here, the one that is W.C. Fields' Comedy Favorites Collection, 10 Films. Now, we did all that because we want to spotlight something very special, and that is the good folks at Kino Lorber Studio Classics have released many amazing WC Fields Films for the month of November. It is going to be pretty amazing to think that we're getting WC Fields Films and this is going to be something very very special We have actually got two of the Blu releases in Classic Cinema Plus Studios right now And we want to talk about them today. We're talking about two of my favorites of WC Fields. And we're talking about The Bank Dick and It's a Gift. Pretty awesome films. First, we want to talk about the one, The Banked Dick. This is a pretty funny little film. Here, W.C. Fields plays Egbert Souset. And he's an unemployed drunk who divides his time between the Black Pussycat Cafe and his dreadful family. Now you're so smart, how are you going to get it in the icebox? I'll put it in myself. Listen, don't ever do that. Back to me. After unwillingly capturing a bank robber, he lands a job as security for the bank. And then everything goes haywire. It's hilarious. W.C. Fields at his funniest. It really is. He just interacts with the kids in such a hilarious way. and interacts with other people, and you can just see his just cantankerous way about him in just everything he does in this film. It is just so spectacular. Keena Lorber has added an amazing audio commentary, as well as theatrical trailers, in this very, very cool release. Now, if you're watching the video version, you can see the actual Blu-ray release. If you're listening to the audio, it's a little harder to see the video. But anyway, if you're watching the video, you can see the artwork on this Blu-ray is absolutely spectacular. It's like caricatures. You've got W.C. Fields, and you've got bank robbers, and you've got all these different things. It's just amazing. The artwork is literally spectacular on this release. I think that is what attracted me to this release more than anything was this artwork. I mean, it's just perfect. I mean, it literally is perfect. I love it. I just love it. Probably one of my favorite W.C. Fields films is The Banked Dick. I just love it. But the one that I do love more than The Banked Dick is this one. It's a gift. This to me is, I really believe this is, at least for me, this is W.C. Field's greatest film he ever did. I truly believe this is, in my opinion at least, W.C. Field's masterpiece. But to me, what makes It's a Gift so spectacular is that it's nonstop laughs through the whole thing. It's not a type of thing that you're sitting here going, okay, this is going on blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you got to go again It doesn do that It like nonstop through the whole film you finding something to laugh at all the time it just it just nonstop Basically W Fields is alongside baby Leroy here in this one and here W.C. Fields plays Harold Bisonet and he's a grocer that finds out that he has these dreams of having an orange orchard in California, but he's stuck running a grocer. And so it's just like, why should I be here on this grocery store doing this stuff when I could be in California on an orange orchard doing my thing? I don't know why. Oh, well, anyway, what's the reason? Well, you ain't got enough money, right? Okay, well, sometimes when you ain't got the money, you can't do what you want to do. Well, okay, then things happen. His uncle passes away, and he sells everything he owns, and he heads out to California after buying an orange orchard. and then they go all the way through to get to hilarious stuff, one right after the other as they make their way to California. When they finally get there, they find that the Orange Orchard is not what he bought, what he thought he bought. It's just not the same. It's not good at all. And then, you know, wheeling and dealing and things going on, he actually gets his dream to come true. And we're not going to spoil exactly how that happens, but it is pretty, pretty cool. Just a hilarious film. Like I said, this one just continually, one right after the other, it's just like joke after joke after joke after joke, and that's kind of what you want with W.C. Fields. That's why the shorts were so amazing, was because it was continuous laughter with W.C. Fields through the whole thing. Well, that's what makes It's a Gift, in my opinion, his masterpiece is the fact that it's just joke after joke after joke. It's continual. You have very little lull throughout the whole film. Can you open your mouth? Come on now, you've got a bigger mouth than that. Open it. The film is basically 68 minutes long. It's not a long film, so that helps with it. You're not packing with other little things to kind of make the film longer just for the fact of making it longer. You're actually packing the film with just laughs. And that's what, to me, when I'm watching a W.C. Fields film, I want to laugh. And I'd rather have less time in the run time and more laughs than have more time in the run time and less laughs. That's me. That's why I think It's a Gift is actually his greatest film that he ever did. I have to say, I have looked at these films. just kind of went through a little bit on the blu-ray player and uh kind of checked them out these in comparison the new blu in comparison to the ones on dvd on this collection And yeah they seem to look a little bit better They seem to look pretty nice, pretty crisp and pretty clear. So we're going to have full written reviews of those. And, yeah, it's going to be, you'll want to definitely check out our whole thoughts on W.C. Fields. He really was one of my favorites of all time. I just think he had a unique way about him, and I really, really, really loved what he brought to the table when it came to comedy. He was truly, truly an icon. When I think of comedians of that generation, W.C. Fields ranks right up there with all of the best. And we're not going to try to do that. someday we may rank our favorite comedians of all time, but I will say W.C. Fields ranks right up there with all of the greats of all time. So, yeah, if you're looking for something fun coming up to add to your collection, definitely check out some of the W.C. Fields films coming from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. We do highly recommend these ones. These are our two favorites. But you may want to add all of them. They're really, really cool. Wait, doggie. That's our thoughts on William Claude Dukenfield. Yeah, William Claude Dukenfield. Okay. It's a unique name for a unique comedian and definitely one of our favorites. What are your thoughts on William Claude Dukenfield? What are your thoughts on the brand new releases from Keanu Lorber? What's your favorite W.C. Fields film? Let us know in the comments. We'd love to hear from you. Also, be sure to like, share, and subscribe. If you're listening to the audio version, subscribe to the audio version. If you're watching the video version, be sure to subscribe to it. We would appreciate it. And, yeah, let somebody know about it. We would appreciate it. and thank you for joining us today on this retro drive-in podcast we thank you for joining us because if you hadn't then there would be no reason for us to do these podcasts but we thank you for listening in and watching and being a part of it be sure to let us know what your thoughts are be sure to go to Classic Cinema Plus and check out all our reviews and all the videos and all the cool stuff we got up there You can be there every single day and see brand new stuff all the time. And, yeah, so be sure to check that out. Until we see you next time with another retro drive-in podcast, this is Jason Lock and Pastor Jay here wishing you a blessed day and reminding you that if you want to see a great film, check out a classic. And we will see you next time. Have an awesome day. Bye. Thank you.