The Bank Dick (The Criterion Collection)

The Bank Dick (The Criterion Collection)
by Edward F. Cline

The Bank Dick (The Criterion Collection)
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DVD details

Actor: Cora Witherspoon, Evelyn Del Rio, Jessie Ralph, Una Merkel, W.C. Fields
Director: Edward F. Cline
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 72 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-08-22
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Criterion

DVD Reviews of The Bank Dick (The Criterion Collection)

DVD Review: W.C. Fields, the unlikely star, in one of his best movies
Summary: 4 Stars

I've seen "The Bank Dick" so many times, it's a little hard to review it. It's been on TV for decades and was probably one of the first movies I ever saw. I think I like it so much because it, as well as its star, W.C. Fields, is quite atypical of the Hollywood of the time [1940]. Indeed, the very fact that Fields became a star who commanded a fortune is a happy anomaly in movie history. He had a bulbous nose, he was overweight, and he is reputed to have been drunk much of the time, both on the set and off. He didn't like children or dogs. He drove the Hayes office, the self-censorship arm of the industry at the time, mad with his double entendres and with his characters who lied, cheated stole, and, worst of all, almost never paid for their sins. There are several reasons he was so successful, I think. The primary one is that he was relentlessly funny. Another is that he was always honest because, in his poking fun at everyone, he never forgot to include himself. Finally, he appealed then, as he still does today, to those who love to see hypocrisy satirized.

Like all Fields movies, "The Bank Dick" barely has a plot at all. It simply careens from one improbably situation to the next. Fields is Egbert Souse of Lompoc, CA. He lives with his wife, mother-in-law and two daughters. They constantly henpeck and ridicule him. One day a movie company comes to town, and somehow Souse finds himself hired as the picture's director. This leads to his apprehending a bank robber, which, in turn, leads to his getting a job as a guard at the bank. Then, there is the character who comes along selling stock in a failed mine. One of the hapless buyers is souse's future son-in-law, who `borrows' the money from the bank for a few days, only to have a bank auditor show up moments later. You call this a plot? Well, forget about the story. It's all just an excuse for the wonderful physical comedy, the sharp, witty dialog, and Field's remarkable line deliveries.

I should mention that Fields surrounded himself with some of the great character actors of his time. The cast of "The Bank Dick" includes Una Merkel, Cora Witherspoon, Frank Pangborn, Grady Sutton and Shemp Howard, who later became famous as one of the Three Stooges.

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Description of The Bank Dick (The Criterion Collection)

W.C. Fields stars as an unemployed, henpecked drunk who spends most of his time at the Black Pussy Cat café. Things take a turn for the absurd when he unwittingly captures a bank robber and lands a job as a security guard. Written by Fields under the pseudonym Mahatma Kane Jeeves and featuring one of his most hilarious performances, The Bank Dick is an undisputed classic of American comedy. Criterion is proud to present Fields' last major film in a new digital transfer, with English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired.
High on the list of W.C. Fields's achievements is this 74-minute feature from 1940, rich in his brilliantly rambling inspiration. Fields plays Egbert Sousé (pronounced Soo 'zay, of course), who manages to foil a bank robbery, tilt a glass in the Black Pussy Cafe, and marry his daughter to Og Oggilby (Grady Sutton) before the closing credits. Maintaining his usual and deliberate half-step behind the rest of the world, Fields's characteristic persona gets a truly worthy movie here that always seems, wonderfully, to be on the verge of racing ahead of him. --Tom Keogh
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