A Flask of Fields: Verbal and Visual Gems From the Films of W. C. Fields

by Richard J. Anobile (Editor)

W. C. Fields was one of the few actors able to transition from the silent film era to the "talkies." A great deal of that was his distinctive voice, physical mannerisms that were almost a continuous sight gag and his visibly irascible personality. He made no effort to portray himself as a good or even likable man on the screen, yet his level of practicing evil was at a likable low level. This book is a collection of images from his movies with a line of the most relevant dialog included. Most of the sentences are short; the emphasis is on the sight gag that was Fields. The only thing missing to complete the scene is that unforgettable voice he had. Anobile points out in the introduction that Fields died before the advent of television but that he is convinced that Fields would have also been able to make the transition to the small screen. I have to agree with that, looking at these images they could have been pulled from a television screen. His mannerisms and his voice would have made him a popular man in the early days of television when a great deal of the action was an ad-lib.

Paperback

Published January 1, 1973

About the author

Anobile pioneered the use of the movie frame blow-up technique to recreate entire films in book form. His books were valuable resources especially in a time before VCR's and DVD's and the internet. While they might be viewed as simplistic picture books now, they were an attempt at curating film at a time when it was often still an after-thought. Anobile has spent much of the rest of his life in film production.

Reviews

[Anthony McGill · Rating 4 out of 5]

No photo book can really capture the true comedic genius of W. C. Fields but this collection of frame blow ups and dialogue from the best of his Paramount and Universal films gives movie buffs and fans the chance to relive many of the classic magic moments, both visual and verbal, from his most beloved performances.

More than 700 sequential photos taken from the original negatives from the films: 'Tillie and Gus' - 'International House' - 'You're Telling Me' - 'It's a Gift' - 'Man on the Flying Trapeze' - 'The Old Fashioned Way' - 'My Little Chickadee' - 'You Can't Cheat an Honest Man' - 'Never Give a Sucker an Even Break' and 'The Bank Dick.'

Introduction by noted film critic Judith Crist.
Review based on original Darien House hardcover edition, 1972. 272 pages.

FIELDS (to Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy): "Quiet - you termites' flophouse. Ladies and gentlemen, up on the platform we have the Great Edgar and his whispering pine, Charlie McCarthy - they baffle science."
CHARLIE: "Are you eating a tomato or is that your nose?"
FIELDS: "Very good - very good Charles. You must come down with me after the show to the lumber yard and ride piggyback on the buzz saws."
CHARLIE: "Nobody's going to find me after the show."
FIELDS: "Yes they are - you'll be hanging in my window as Venetian blinds."
CHARLIE: "Oh, that makes me shudder."
FIELDS: "Quiet - or I'll throw a woodpecker on ya."

[Evan · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the 1970s, movie photo books like this got published because home video did not exist, and the availability of old films was scattershot; you either had to wait a few years for them to show up at a revival theater or film festival (and then be available when they were screened) or religiously scan the weekly TV Guide hoping that one of them might actually be aired at 2 in the morning at which point you tried mightily to stay awake during it -- and probably failed and slept through the finale; this happened to me many times. :(

When this book was published, in 1972, the Marx Brothers and W.C. Fields revivals were in full swing. Hippies and their youthful cohorts, the new generation of cineastes and artists gravitated to their anarchic disrespect (the Marxes) and grumbled contempt (Fields) for the Establishment. They were subversives of their parents' and grandparents' generation; a sign that revolt lurked healthily in the confines of an otherwise scrubbed, censored America. The book assumes that this revival immortalizes these comedians, and yet the "household word" status of Fields particularly is on much shakier ground today. He is in danger of becoming a lost cultural artifact to today's younger generations.

This book followed a similar previous effort by Anobile on the Marx Brothers called Why a Duck.... In both books, the objective was to simulate the movie experience for readers in a time before home video by reproducing selected sequential stills from the films with the attendant dialog. As such, the book is a bit of a superfluous relic now, of not much use anymore as a reference. But this sort of still-filled coffee table book served its purpose of giving Fields fans something in lieu of actually seeing the movies.

Reading (and looking) through this entirely today (5/14/11) I actually found myself laughing at some of the sequences (particularly the one in which Fields takes his time with bits of dawdling business before checking for burglars in the cellar, to the flustered chagrin of his wife, in The Man on the Flying Trapeze from 1935), and also finding some gems that I missed when actually watching these scenes in motion. Putting some of these scenes under the still microscope (particularly a couple of scenes from Tillie and Gus and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man) allowed me to better appreciate some of the wit that otherwise passed me by in films that I otherwise felt were sub-par for Fields.

The one section of real value in the book is Judith Crist's completely superb introductory essay that fully, in just a few pages, captures the art and spirit of W.C. Fields better than anything I have ever read.

[Calvin]

It's Fields, so it certainly is fun. But nothing all that impressive.