'Godfrey Daniels!' ...Gems ...of W.C.Fields

by Richard J. Anobile

A book providing insight into W.C. Field's life and his works.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

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]

This one may be more for W.C. Fields legion of fans than the general movie lover but still loads of fun for all!
800+ blow-ups and dialogue from The Great Man's four classic short films made for Mack Sennett in the early thirties.
"The Fatal Glass of Beer" (1933)
"The Dentist" (1932)
"The Pharmacist" (1933)
"The Barber Shop" (1933)
Eighty pages is devoted to the most famous of these little gems: "The Dentist."
All these two-reel films ran for about 20 minutes.
One of the many Richard J. Anobile books of the time, featuring carefully selected blow-ups which showcased famous old movies and comedians in a format as close to the real experience of watching the original film.

[Carlos West · Rating 5 out of 5]

A combination movie still/dialogue reproduction of four 1930's short comedy films. Helpful and enjoyable for Fields fans who can never have too much of his works in various formats but more helpful to the general film public as a way of keeping the producer of these films in the public eye. Who was the producer? None other than the self proclaimed, King of Comedy, Mack Sennett! Prior to 1930 he was one of the top names. Since then his popularity has diminished. This book came out a year after the play, Mack and Mabel. Then there were the novels, Keystone by Peter Lovesey, and, Mabel and Me by Jon Boorstin. Mr. Sennett's own autobiography which was published in 1954 was re-issued in 1975, 1985, 1990 and 2000. These books have helped to bring MS back, but don't overlook the feature film, Hollywood Cavalcade(1939) which was a re-imagined version of his life.

[Joe Noir · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and others like it, mostly edited by Richard J. Anobile, were all we had before home video.