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The Bank Dick stars W.C. Fields as one Egbert Sousé (final accent significant), an irritable and irritated family man who spends his spare time and money at the Black Pussy Café (and Snack Bar), telling tall tales to Joe the bartender (Shemp Howard) and anyone else who will listen. When he bluffs his way into a directing job on a one-reel short and accidentally foils a bank robbery, his fortunes begin to improve; a series of improbable coincidences follow, making him a hero and a happy, wealthy man, having earned the respect and love of his wife, his daughters and his mother-in-law.

Written by Fields under the improbable pseudonym of Mahatma Kane Jeeves, The Bank Dick is filled with Fieldsian situations and character names—bank inspector J. Pinkerton Snoopington (Franklin Pangborn), Sousé’s son-in-law Og Oggilby (Grady Sutton), and a bank robber named Filthy McNasty (Al Hill). Most of the humor derives from Fields’ classic persona, a bumbling, boastful drunkard who somehow manages to succeed on his own terms despite the annoyances imposed on him by his family, self-appointed moral guardians and any child who crosses his path. Fields isn’t afraid to poke fun at himself, either, and he generously gives some of the film’s funniest lines to his supporting characters. As noted in the disc’s liner notes by Dennis Perrin, The Bank Dick is short on plot, playing as a series of situations with Sousé at the center that somehow meanders to an ending. But as one who thinks Fields did his best work in short films, I found the film’s loose structure comfortable and refreshingly anarchic. Edward Cline directs with competent, straightforward composition and editing, wisely letting the camera roll while Fields works his 80-proof magic.

This was Fields’ last feature film, and it appears that he was sober enough to be on the set when needed (avoiding the production problems that plagued some of his other films)—he died 6 years later at the reasonable age of 66. Fields in his prime was a vital, outrageous comedian, counteracting the wholesomeness of his Hollywood contemporaries with a joyful depiction of the boastful, overblown, selfish, darker side of the American character. I always watch Fields’ work with the same mixture of emotions that colors my viewing of John Belushi—knowing how incredibly funny he could be, and wondering how much his addictions limited his life and career. But The Bank Dick is by no means painful to watch in and of itself—Egbert Sousé is a classic Fields creation, ignoring the idiots and overriding the pompous in his endless quest to be left alone with his vices.

this review first appeared on digitallyobsessed.com