The W.C. Fields comedy The Old Fashioned Way (1934) doesn't have the wall-to-wall laugh quotient of It's a Gift (1934) or The Bank Dick (1940), instead modulating its laughs with nostalgia for the nomadic life and performance style of a late-19th century theatrical company. Cleverly following Fields and his troupe over a single, 24-hour period, its last act is largely composed of a chaotic recreation of The Drunkard; or, The Fallen Saved, the 1844 melodrama that for decades was one of America's best-known plays, and which was even revived in Los Angeles in 1933 for an unbroken run that, incredibly, lasted until almost 1970. Rather than mercilessly spoof its old-fashioned theatrics, Fields's movie takes a slightly different, subtler approach, the earnest if clumsy staging, combined with the theater audience's reaction, result in a long sequence that builds slowly but ultimately is quite touching. This extends to the rest of the picture: Fields has many hilarious moments, but it's the delicate balance of humor and honest sentiment that both sets it apart from Fields's other starring films, while also making it one of his very best.

Near the end of the 19th century -- just as the real Fields was himself embarking on a theatrical career -- manager-star "The Great McGonigle" (Fields) tours with his company, one step ahead of the law and myriad creditors. Tagging along with the company is Wally Livingston (Joe Morrison), an aspiring actor-singer who left college and fell in love with Betty (Judith Allen), McGonigle's fiercely loyal actress-daughter. Wally comes from a wealthy family, and Betty knows the theater is no life for a promising college boy, but he persists.

Arriving in the town where the troupe is scheduled to perform The Drunkard that evening, the perennially broke McGonigle sets his sights on Cleopatra Pepperday, a grotesque but wealthy widow who, like Wally, dreams of a career on the stage. ("She's all dressed up like a well-kept grave," McGonigle remarks.) McGonigle indulges her fantasies in order to secure funds to get his troupe through the next few days, unaware that she's already dating the local sheriff. Meanwhile, Wally's stuffy and judgmental father (Oscar Apfel) also turns up, determined to talk his son out of all this theater nonsense. Can the show go on?

The Old Fashioned Way is short on story. It went through more than a half-dozen writers attempting to adapt Fields's basic concepts without much luck, forcing the film into production without a complete script, necessitating much improvising from Fields, who's nonetheless hilarious throughout. The highlight, comedy-wise, are scenes of McGonigle wooing Cleopatra, particularly a long sequence featuring her dreadful if animated rendition of the song "Gathering Up the Seashells" as McGonigle alternately feigns delight and exasperation at the indescribably awful, endless performance; and a dinner scene pitting McGonigle against Cleopatra's obnoxious, two-year-old son, played by Baby LeRoy.

As usual, Fields peppers his cast with great character comedians such as regular Tammany Young as stooge Marmaduke Gump ("Are ya hoited?") and Clarence Wilson, frequent foil of Our Gang, playing one of Fields's most outrageously named characters, "Sheriff Prettywillie."

The performance of The Drunkard is only partly played for laughs, such as the funny running gag of the theater curtain repeatedly dropping with loud thud, and Fields's brief reuse of the signature gag from his great two-reel comedy The Fatal Glass of Beer: "It ain't a fit night out for man nor beast!" (face full of phony snow).

Mostly, however, it's restaged with enormous affection for its unabashed emotions. Cutaways to audience members entranced or deeply moved or excited (one lady cautions her elderly husband to remember his heart condition) is not remotely intended to make fun of this hick audience for lapping it up. Rather, it's honest sentiment for a more innocent age of theatrical entertainment, and the priceless gift these "disreputable" traveling players provide to "civilians" who otherwise would condemn their choice of occupation. Fields, clearly, is on their side, and the movie makes such its nomadic, financially insecure lifestyle enormously appealing, in spite of everything.

Video & Audio

Licensed from Universal, The Old Fashioned Way, in black-and-white and standard 1.37:1 screen, looks good, not great, in high-def, clearly sourcing decent but secondary elements. The DTS-HD Master Audio (mono) is acceptable and optional English subtitles are provided on this Region "A" encoded disc.

Extra Features

Supplements are limited to a trailer and a well-researched audio commentary by James L. Neibaur, author of The W.C. Fields Films.

Parting Thoughts

The uniqueness of W.C. Fields is exemplified by a short scene at the end, almost an "extra" within the movie itself: Fields juggling, one of his signature routines. Like everything else Fields did, his juggling bit is quite unlike (and, in my view, funnier) than anyone else, certainly any jugglers from the first-half of that century. His best comedies I practically know line-for-line from so many repeated viewings, but for some reason I hadn't seen The Old-Fashioned Way more than once or twice over the years and had forgotten just how good it is. Highly Recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV is the Kyoto-based film historian restoring an early 19th century Japanese farmhouse.