It's a Gift

A New Jersey store owner receives an inheritance that allows him to pursue his dream of owning an orange grove in California. Enjoyable comedy has Fields in top form as a henpecked husband, with Howard well cast as his nagging wife. Highlights include early scenes of Fields getting ready to go work while dealing with his crazy family and a later scene where he is catering to a blind customer in his store. While not always laugh out loud funny, this is one of those films that one watches with a smile on his face throughout. Fields doesn't go for overly broad comedy, instead staying within character as a simple man reaching for his dreams.

I just watched my laserdisc of this again last night and laughed just as hard as I did 20 times ago when I first watched it. What a great, truly classic comedy. And I have to mention how much of this is due to Kathleen Howard's hysterical performance as his wife. She is an absolute scream! "Harold, are you drunk or crazy?" "Harold, would you please be quiet!" "Seems to me you're getting pretty familiar with Mrs. Dunk upstairs" "Funny thing, the maternity hospital calling asking for you"

It's the best--the best W.C. Fields movie, and among the best 30's comedies. Unlike some of the better-known Fields films (such as The Bank Dick) it never quite washes away into surrealistic campiness--and this near-reality makes it funnier. Fields is the quintessential dreamer-loser who fails and fails and fails until at the very last moment his failures turn into the source of his utterly unexpected (but perfectly logical) success. Like all great comedy, it's tragedy with a twist (and a nice slug of gin to boot).

W.C. Fields is Harold Bissonette, the owner of a general store who is endlessly tormented by his family. After he gets an inheritance from his deceased relative he longs to buy an Orange Ranch. This is my second favorite Fields film (behind the great "Bank Dick) There are so many memorable comedic moments in this one and it's a sheer joy to watch W.C Fields one of my favorite comedians at the top of his game. This movie can be found in the W.C. Fields comedy collection, along with, "The Bank Dick", "My Little Chickadee", "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man", "International House", and "W.C. Fields:Behind the Laughter" My Grade: A+

If W.C. Fields is the funniest comedian in sound films, and perfectly hilarious in starring vehicles (Bank Dick) and guest shots (International House), why is this one is his best? Because Fields' antagonists are, for once, as grand as The Great Man himself. Aside from an evil blind man, and a cheerfully homicidal baby (ever reliable Baby Leroy), there is the ultimate Spouse from Hell. Former Vogue editor turned actress Kathleen Howard is pure outraged selfishness (Fields' mirror image) as the wife; her declamatory style of acting would be at home in a John Waters epic. She is divine, and so is the film.

"It's a Gift" is one of Fields' best! Though W.C Fields is rarely thought of as a physical comedian, his performance is as graceful and athletic as you're likely to see. Sharp, biting dialogue and timeless comedic elements (like the universally recognized nagging wife, pesky kids, delivery people, and, [horrors] even the "visually impaired") get the Fields treatment. Like most of Fields' work "It's a Gift" centers, not on the drinking that would become his caricature (though he does "tip a few" in the film), but on the "little guy." Fields is once again in the familiar role of "down-trodden little man" just trying to make it in an increasingly crazy and, sometimes, cruel world. "It's a Gift" is wonderful theatre; brilliantly executed by one of America's comic masters.