classicsoncall At the risk of offending W.C. Fields' many fans, I just didn't care very much for this film or find it all that funny. I guess that's because of the repetition involved in many of the scenes like the shaving bit, the kumquat guy, the blind man knocking stuff over and that slow, stair-descending coconut that managed to extend a quick gag into an eight minute routine. After 'getting it' the first time I find the repeats a time waster and start to lose concentration. The character of wife Amelia (Kathleen Howard) was also a downer with her incessant nagging, although I could identify with Harold's (Fields) reaction because I wind up doing that myself when I can no longer take it. I haven't seen many of Fields' films, in fact this is the first in a long time so I have to get back up to speed on his comedy. I don't mind the curmudgeon aspect to his character if the situation frames it in a comical way, so I guess I'll just have to move on to the next flick.Does anyone buy kumquats anymore?

Bill Slocum W. C. Fields specialized in two kinds of characters, tricksters and henpecked husbands. "It's A Gift" works as a showcase of Fields in the latter department.Fields is Harold Bissonette, pronounced "bis-son-ay," a store clerk who dreams of an orange grove to call his own. His nagging wife Amelia (Kathleen Howard) just can't wait to tick off all the ways Harold ticks her off in as loud a voice as possible. Harold puts up with this as he plots to buy his orange grove despite her persistent objections."What did I say last?" she demands at the end of one tirade."Yes, yes, every word of it," a distracted Harold meekly replies.If you are a die-hard W. C. fan, it's not hard to recommend "It's A Gift." It's a series of quintessential setpieces of Fieldsian slow burns and double-speak. There's not much to be said for the plot, as you shouldn't have to pay more attention to it than Fields and his team of writers did. The point is to get Fields in various messes, and this "It's A Gift" does with brisk efficiency.Plenty of famous bits make their way on screen. The infamous Carl LaFong is name-dropped and name-spelled for eternity, and there's of course the biggest cinematic nod in the direction of the kumquat industry, though unlike Mr. LaFong they get the name spelled wrong. Everyone remembers that scene where Harold tries to whack his son ("Well, he's not going to tell me I don't love him!") and when he comes up with a Churchillian reply when accused of being drunk.The question of enjoying "It's A Gift" boils down to how much you embrace "aggravation comedy," where the humor is built into annoying situations made more so through sheer repetition. I can only take so much of Harold dodging customers in his store, or wrestling with a deck chair. A long sequence showcases Harold trying to sleep on a porch while a milkman, a coconut, a salesman, and a squeaky clothesline all conspire against him. I can't help but chuckle a few times, but am always happy when the scene ends.Harold is a fascinating character, a beaten man who is the author of his own destruction. He bought an orange ranch even after knowing it was a lemon, lets a blind man smash everything in his store, and of course married Amelia. But he's still Fields, and manages to work his way through his self-created turmoil to a surprisingly upbeat, if left-field, conclusion.That's my favorite part of the film, but you can't say enough for the able support of Kathleen Howard. Her Amelia is a wonderful shrew, kind of likable in her querulous way. She nags Harold even in her sleep, and her line readings are deliriously skewed in the way they seem to fall heavy on nearly every other syllable. "Don't be kicking Norman's skates around!" she huffs after Harold does a header slipping on one of his son's roller-skates, as if Harold did it just to annoy her. Considering this is Fields, maybe he did.Director Norman Z. McLeod isn't much talked about even among film students, though he may be the only man who directed major vehicles for Fields, the Marx Brothers, Harold Lloyd, and Danny Kaye. He knew how to work with comedy stars, and here keeps Fields at the center of the action.Watching "It's A Gift" can be hard on the nerves, but it's also a treat for the funny bone with a good heart discernible amid the mayhem.

Tom May There is considerable fun to be had in watching this fine old comedy; such expert timing, with Fields proving master of the slow-burning visual gag and also the offhand, unremittingly sour retort.Raymond Durgnat wrote extensively on Fields in his book on early Hollywood comedy, "The Crazy Mirror", as has David Thomson in his Biographical Dictionary of Film. These critics rightfully see Fields as embodying a certain isolationism in the American soul, a reluctance to go along with the cosy family values often proffered by Hollywood. As Geoff Brown argues in his Time Out review, "It's a Gift" is 'Fields' definitive study in the horrors of small town family life.' Few comedies of this era match it in terms of avoiding easy sentiment and padding: perhaps only "Duck Soup" comes to mind. It was still a few years before the screwball comedies fully found their feet, with the magnificent likes of "My Man Godfrey" (1936) and "Bringing Up Baby" (1938)."It's a Gift" is as gloriously chaotic as the best of the Marx Brothers, as precisely measured as the best Jacques Tati, but it is imbued with an irascible philosophy all of its own. There are some truly wonderful set-pieces: the kumquats scene and the slow build of WCF's time on his makeshift bed on the outer landing, to name two examples.

Cyke 116: It's a Gift (1934) - released 11/17/1934, viewed 9/6/08.BIRTHS: Carl Sagan, Charles Manson.KEVIN: There are probably earlier films of W.C. Fields we could've started with, but we were just too damn lazy to add them to the list. So we first meet the plump, red-nosed, curmudgeonly underdog at age 53 in his purported masterpiece, 'It's a Gift.' As an actual movie, the film is put together pretty poorly. Comic vignettes are strung together loosely, transitions are almost nonexistent, and the lack of music is far too noticeable. But the comic vignettes themselves, containing some of Field's best gags, are always hilarious. It's rare to see a comic actor in this period playing a family man. Of course, it would be hard to imagine a guy of Field's age and complexion as a romantic lead like his other comic contemporaries. Field's bumbling grocer is tormented by his shrewish wife, annoying kids, and every person he meets in a series of gags that seem more based on the actual experiences of a veteran family man, rather than spilling out of the gag-writers' factory. There are times where Fields' bad luck and getting blamed for every stupid thing that happens (even stuff that's obviously not his fault) strains belief, even in the midst of a comedy. Anyway, this is definitely a must see, but I'm sure it would play far better if watched by a large company of viewers than by any individual.DOUG: Welcome to the world of W.C. Fields, where all the women are nagging shrews, all the children are unwieldy brats, and the hero is a clumsy, boorish, impatient and obstinate old man. Most of the comedians of the era have protagonists that are everymen and/or cartoon characters, getting into extraordinary situations through mostly no fault of their own and showing some pluckiness as they overcome adversity. Fields, however, seems to wind up in situations, mostly his fault, that he could get out of if he possessed even the slightest bit of finesse. Case in point: the film's first sustained gag sequence, in which Fields foolishly lets his daughter into the bathroom so she can do her hair while he's in the middle of shaving, leaving him to struggle to find a steady reflection to finish his job instead of just, you know, ASKING HER to hang back for a couple of minutes. This continues throughout the movie, which is little more than a collection of episodes showing Fields constantly besotted by forces determined to drive him mad. He tries in vain to escape his awful wife by sleeping on the porch amid a parade of noise; he attempts to run his grocery store while handling a grouchy customer, a neighbor's demon child, a ballistic blind man, and a half-wit assistant he should have fired long ago; and he drives his rickety old car into a private estate for a picnic, promising that the KEEP OUT sign is just to scare the hobos away. A unique brand of comedy to be sure, one that I'm surprised got past the Hays Code in any measure, so definitely recommended.Last film: The Gay Divorcée (1934). Next film: Imitation of Life (1934).