W.C. Fields Steals the Show
I was watching this film on TCM this morning, primarily to catch Mr. Fields in it. I was familiar with the general outline of the story, having seen a British production on PBS of a few years back, but had forgotten many of the details. I'm a relatively recent fan of Mr. Fields and have been trying to catch everything he was in. I'd known of his appearance in this film for some years, so I was looking forward to finally seeing him as Mr. Micawber. I thought he was great as the kindly and good-natured ne'er-do-well, with all his clever lines and witticisms, but I was disappointed by his fairly short screen time. I stopped watching after I realized his scenes were over. I've continued taping, though, in case he yet reappears. Although the cast and overall production values are very impressive, for me, Fields was worth the price of admission, and literally steals the show. On the other hand, I found the movie a little slow-going and tedious at first. The voices of the British cast seemed shrill, high-pitched, and screechy, due, I guess, to the actual quality of the sound as it was restored from original to digital, or however they do it. I found it difficult to understand much of the dialogue. Fortunately, I heard everything Mr.Fields said perfectly. His character of Mr. Micawber was a welcome breath of fresh air after all the unlikeable and unsavory people in little David's life up till then. Hopefully, Fields will return before the film ends. I'll check my recording of it shortly. As Mr. Micawber himself might say, "In short, a great performance from W.C. Fields".
share