Another of the beleaguered family men that were by this time a Fields trademark, Ambrose Wolfinger lives in quiet misery, oppressed by his second wife and her good-for-nothing relations. Ambrose may be a victim, but he's hardly innocent: apprehending a pair of burglars in his basement, he joins them in a few rounds of homemade applejack and a boozy rendition of "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away"; using the made-up funeral of his very-much-alive mother-in-law as an excuse to skip work for a wrestling match, he sets off a full-fledged town scandal. Despite the sketchy plot, the New York Times called this "the kind of burlesque which comes dangerously close to realism."
• Written by Ray Harris, Sam Hardy, based on a story by Charles Bogle (W. C. Fields), Hardy. Photographed by Alfred Gilks. With W. C. Fields, Mary Brian, Kathleen Howard, Grady Sutton. (66 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Universal)
Preceded by:
The Golf Specialist (Monte Brice, US, 1934)
W. C. Fields’s distracted golfer is drawn from his vaudeville routines in his first talkie.
(21 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Cohen Media)
Total running time: 87 mins
Another of the beleaguered family men that were by this time a Fields trademark, Ambrose Wolfinger lives in quiet misery, oppressed by his second wife and her good-for-nothing relations. Ambrose may be a victim, but he's hardly innocent: apprehending a pair of burglars in his basement, he joins them in a few rounds of homemade applejack and a boozy rendition of "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away"; using the made-up funeral of his very-much-alive mother-in-law as an excuse to skip work for a wrestling match, he sets off a full-fledged town scandal. Despite the sketchy plot, the New York Times called this "the kind of burlesque which comes dangerously close to realism."
• Written by Ray Harris, Sam Hardy, based on a story by Charles Bogle (W. C. Fields), Hardy. Photographed by Alfred Gilks. With W. C. Fields, Mary Brian, Kathleen Howard, Grady Sutton. (66 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Universal)
Preceded by:
The Golf Specialist (Monte Brice, US, 1934)
W. C. Fields’s distracted golfer is drawn from his vaudeville routines in his first talkie.
(21 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Cohen Media)
Total running time: 87 mins
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