"Actor: Billy Lenhart"

• Never Give A Sucker An Even Break | DVD | (05/05/2008) from £5.38   |  Saving you £4.61 (85.69%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In his last starring role W.C. Fields plays himself having a typical day at his studio Esoteric Pictures. Director Eddie Cline masterfully imparts a certain level of surreal spontaneity to Field's digressions and misadventures. Fields eats breakfast spars with a sarcastic waitress (Jody Gilbert) and then pitches his fractured script to studio head Franklin Pangborn. The script reading becomes a film within a film commencing with the hero of the tale (Fields again playing himself) leaping out of an airplane in hot pursuit of a flask of whiskey. He lands on the bed of an innocent young girl and tries to seduce her before her mom (Margaret Dumont) comes crashing in. Fields then escapes over a cliff in a basket. Things get even more bizarre before Pangborn throws him out and back into a reality that culminates in a lengthy frenetic car chase. There's also some musical interludes courtesy Gloria Jean a singing star Universal was grooming for success at the time. Though Fields undoubtedly bristled at the studio's insistence he share the bill the two actually display a touching rapport in their scenes together; just another small miracle in this truly unique and hilarious film.