User Reviews

W.C. Fields made several films that were essentially the same stories with a few variations. While I love Fields films, I am not a huge fan of these derivative tales. They are derivative but still mildly entertaining---and far from his best work. "Poppy", "The Old Fashioned Way" and "You Can't Cheat and Honest Man" all share many story elements--many. Each have Fields playing the leader of a two-bit circus or acting troop. Each has a grown daughter who Fields dotes upon. Each has Fields on the verge of bankruptcy. And, in each, the daughter faces a crisis. Because of this, even if this film is done well, it's still very familiar.

Fortunately for "You Can't Cheat and Honest Man", there is one major difference that sets it apart. Because of the success of Fields and Charlie McCarthy on the radio, the folks at Universal decided to add Edger Bergen and his dummies to the movie to give it a bit of punch. Bergan's humor was quite welcome and made this film less sentimental than the two previous incarnations...and a bit funnier.

Overall, it's worth seeing. However, if at all possible, try watching one of Fields' best films first to see just how good he can be with a more original story. "It's a Gift" is probably his best, though "The Bank Dick" and "You're Telling Me" are all wonderful Fields films. They are similar in that in each W.C. appears to fall on his face but by the end has become HUGELY successful, but otherwise each is very unique and better suited for his great personality.

Lots of gags and double takes by W.C. Fields dot this comedy. Fields does his normal shtick regarding the mumbling, sometimes mean-spirited insults, double-takes when loud noises occur, which was frequent; scheming people out of money, running from the law, etc. Fields was anything but moral giant which I suppose made him a lovable rascal in the eyes of many. It didn't hurt to have funny names such as this one, either: "Larson E. Whipsnade."

I enjoyed Edgar Bergen's performance more than anyone in here, including W.C., because he gave his famous dummy, "Charlie McCarthy," some of the best lines in the movie. That, and I liked Charlie's laugh.

Like a Marx Brothers film, this didn't have much of storyline, just a bunch of comedy bits by Fields and Bergen, plus a love interest between Bergen and Constance Moore, who played "Whipsnade's" daughter.

Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, from the old Jack Benny television show, also is in here, and sometimes feels the sting of W.C.'s racist remarks, which he could never say today on film, and justifiably so.

It was very entertaining, fast-moving and the best of the Fields movies, I think, even though Edgar and Charlie steal the show. I also think getting a DVD with English subtitles would make it even better, to catch all of W.C.'s lines, some of which are too mumbled to understand.

When counting out change for a customer buying tickets at his debt-ridden circus, Fields leads the customer to believe that he not only has counted out too much, but accidentally given him change for a 20 rather than a 10. The customer grabs the money and runs without bothering to point out the mistake. I think you can guess what actually happened.

This is really the only relevance of the title to a movie which is basically a series of skits showcasing W.C. Fields and Edgar Bergen, occasionally together, but usually in individual routines. Although W.C. is always a pleasure to watch, this is certainly not one of the better movies in which to do that. First of all, the Bergen routines grow tiresome quickly. There's only so much I can take of watching a ventriloquist who moves his lips while everyone pretends that his wooden dummies are alive. Second, Fields' routines never reach the level of inspired zaniness which his best films are able to achieve.

Finally, Fields never really imbues his character with any humanity until the final scenes. It his ability to do so which makes his best movies so special ("It's a Gift", "The Bank Dick", "You're Telling Me", etc.). Without it, all you have is a run-of-the-mill hit-or-miss comedy.

In yet another variation of his "Poppy" role from his Broadway hit of the 1920s, Fields here plays Larson E. Whipsnade, owner of a circus. He has 2 children who have been off at school. The daughter, Constance Moore, feels compelled to marry for money. The son has no role.

At the circus, among Fields' attraction are Edgar Bergen and his dummies. Fields and Bergen had a solid chemistry and the radio "fued" between Fields and the dummy Charlie McCarthy were hugely popular. Their banter here is quite funny.

The plot is thin and revolves around the daughter's marriage and the financial troubles of the circus. But it's enough for Fields to build some hilarious routines around. The climactic ping pong game at the home of the groom's parents is very funny. Also funny is Fields dressed up as circus star, Buffalo Bella, the sharp-shooter.

Moore and Bergen have zero chemistry as the "lovers." But good support is provided by Eddie Anderson, Mary Forbes, Thurston Hall, James Bush, Grady Sutton, and especially Jan Duggan as Miss Sludge, the woman who starts the ping pong match. Duggan memorably co-starred with Fields in THE OLD FASHIONED WAY.

The Fields universe rarely goes well but there is a happy ending.

YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN (Universal, 1939) directed by George Marshall, is a circus movie, and with W.C. Fields in the lead, accompanied by the support of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy, along with an assortment of oddball characters, ranging from another dummy named Mortimer Snerd, to human numskull Grady Sutton, plus circus attractions of the world's largest midget and smallest giant, one should expect this madcap comedy to be none other than a circus. In spite of its backdrop, where much of it takes place, there's no man on the flying trapeze nor Sally of the Sawdust or clowns juggling bowling pins, yet, Fields provides several opportunities clowning around by not taking it's title seriously. He is far from being an honest man and actually does most of the cheating, not in the illicit sense, but as a circus impresario who holds back salaries from his employees and cheating his paying customers of their change.

The story actually concerns Larson E. Whipsnade (W.C. Fields), the manager of a circus, who is heavily in debt of $3500, and in a comedic way, is at wits end with his troupe and constantly one step ahead of the sheriff. His problems are further complicated when Vicki (Constance Moore), his attractive daughter, becomes interested in the Great Edgar (Bergen), but in order to help their father out of his financial difficulties and from being arrested, Phineas (John Arledge), her brother, arranges for Vicki to marry Roger Bel-Goodie (James Bush), the son of society snobs (Thurston Hall and Mary Forbes), who may have money but not her love.

The supporting cast consists of circus performers Blacaman and Princess Baba playing themselves; Edward Brophy as Corbett; Arthur Hohl as Burr; Eddie "Rochester" Anderson as Cheerful, the crap-shooting handyman; and several Fields staff players including Grady Sutton, Jan Dugan and Bill Wolfe in smaller roles, plus Evelyn Del Rio, who would go on to play Fields' brat of a daughter in the upcoming comedy, THE BANK DICK (1940), seen here as a crying girl annoys Whipsnade about her "lost" dog. Children and animals continue to make good comedy props for Fields in this one.

The movie itself comes is a sort of mixed blessing for some considering how comedy routines shift from Fields to the antics of Bergen and McCarthy. The ventriloquist and his dummies acting like humans certainly will appeal to younger children than Fields, yet the older kids or adults with minds of children could find the Bergen, McCarthy and Snerd exchanges quite intrusive. While the Fields comedies of the past focused solely on his character, he doesn't have the entire movie nor does he share much screen time with Bergen and McCarthy in spite of their current popularity of verbal insults on radio. The story itself, written by Fields, under the assumed name of Charles Bogle, is slight with some situations unresolved, but the verbal exchanges and comedy routines are first rate. Standouts include Fields taking a shower behind a circus tent as his elephant Queenie acquires water from a bucket and sprays upon his command of "Give Queenie!"; Fields staging a ventriloquist act sporting a false mustache as none laughing spectators look on with blank expressions; and if those scenes don't provoke laughter, then the climatic ping-pong game at the society party certainly will. Watch how character actress Jan Duggan catches the ball.

YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN has become a favorite on commercial television for many years, and later on cable channels, including American Movie Classics from 1995 to 1998, and Turner Classic Movies where it made its premiere in June 2001. Take notice that the prints available on these mentioned cable channels are not from the original 1939 release but from reissue copies with an entire different background during its introduction elevating Eddie "Rochester" Anderson's name (of Jack Benny radio fame) from bottom billing to co-starring status, thus reducing co-stars Bergen, McCarthy and Constance Moore further down the list. Video prints, from MCA Home Video, however, have become available with its original theatrical opening credits.

For his debut at Universal Studios after many years at Paramount, W.C. Fields comes off to a good start. It's may not be perfect but the laughs are there. Several comedy routines from previous Fields comedies are repeated here, and in many ways, much improved. The feud between Fields and "smart mouth" McCarthy continue to become highlights. McCarthy to Fields: "Is that a tomato or your nose?" McCarthy eventually gets his from Whipsnade (Fields) in one scene where the child-like dummy finds himself inside a live crocodile. After watching this, the circus may never be the same again, thanks to the one and only Larceny Whipsnake, better known as Larson E. Whipsnade, profession, "Honest Man." (**1/2)

It is true that Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy were far more effective in their national audience on radio than in the movies. This was due to the close-up affect of cinematography on Bergen's face - he could not hide the fact that his lips moved a little. When on a stage in a nightclub or in vaudeville he'd be too far away to be seen moving his lips. Not so on film.

But Bergan and McCarthy put ventriloquism on the map. Their act and radio show took the art of throwing one's voice and brought a biting humor to it, giving the dummy a real personality: a wise guy little man, with an eye for the ladies and an eye for making trouble for people he did not like (among whom was Fields). The feud of McCarthy and Fields mirrored the contemporary feud of Fred Allan and Jack Benny, except that Allan and Benny were both real. But on radio Charlie was as real as "Uncle Claude" was, so the fact that it was a block of wood that was manipulated fighting a real life man did not matter. The public just loved Charlie reminding Fields of his alcoholism, in particular his large red nose. And the public loved the threats of Fields to give Charlie a ride on a buzz saw.

Because of the strong personality of McCarthy, a movie audience even today looks at this film and tends to ignore Bergen's slight lip movements. Charlie is the real personality of interest, not Edgar - here playing a hard working young man who would like to marry Vicki Whipsnade (Constance Moore) but is resigned that she wants to marry a wealthy young wastrel instead. Bergen could act (look at his performance in I REMEMBER MAMA, as Ellen Corby's boyfriend/husband, and his comic scene there with Oskar Homolka regarding the dowry). But he did not have to act as Bergen here - all he had to do was let Charlie do his job (and, for that matter, let Mortimer Snerd do his work too in two scenes). The tricks used by the director to have scenes where Charlie appears without Bergan are just even more effective, as they enhance the idea of an independent comic personality coming out of the dummy.

For Fields there are many choice moments too. His walk, supposedly naked after a shower, across the circus grounds - hidden behind people carrying items, or elephants and other animals, until a lady screams and faints (and Fields is finally physically revealed to the audience) is a gem. So is his wrecking the Bel-Goodies engagement party, first by his mad ping pong match, and then by his insistence of telling the story of how his life was saved once by an intelligent rattlesnake (not realizing that Mrs. Bel-Goody hates even the mention of snakes). His interactions with the circus staff, with the idiotic Grady Sutton, with labor union organizer Edward Brophy, and with the various people buying tickets for the circus, or for that matter mispronouncing his name as "Larceny Whipsnake" are priceless. So is his own attempt at ventriloquism: he does it so you can't see his lips move, but you just can't believe he is throwing his voice. Well he is throwing dust or something else at that moment.

But it is his running confrontations with McCarthy, some of which he actually loses (he has one where he has to bribe Charlie at one point to keep quiet) that maintains the audience's attention. The film is one of Fields' best ones, and deservedly retains it's popularity to this day.

W.C. Fields stars as Larson E. Whipsnade, a seedy circus owner which is in debt. His daughter is torn between love for a ventriliquist or marrying a rich suitor to help her father. I am a huge fan of W. C. Fields, but could never bring myself to like the Charlie McCarthy dummy (or in fact ventriloquism on a whole, I feel it's only a few steps above Mime).And because of this the greatness of Field's comedy is often offset. This movie can be found in the W.C. Fields comedy collection, along with, "The Bank Dick", "My Little Chickadee", "It's a Gift", "International House", and "W.C. Fields:Behind the Laughter"

My Grade: C+

DVD Extras: Theatrical Trailer

You Can't Cheat An Honest Man finds widower W.C. Fields running a second rate circus and trying to stay one step ahead of the law as he's creditors just about every place he goes. His children, John Arledge and Constance Moore attend a really posh Ivy League type school and you sympathize with Fields because you know this why he's probably not paying his bills. One also can speculate what his wife must have put up with back in the day.

Moore on a visit to Dad's show falls for the ventriloquist sideshow performer Edgar Bergen. But Bergen doesn't really get along with Fields or I should say his alter ego Charlie McCarthy doesn't.

The Fields-McCarthy feud was legendary on radio and it might seem hard to fathom how a ventriloquist could entertain on radio. But the characters he created were so powerful and had such a hold on the minds of the public that they were real. Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd were characters in their own right, they almost but not quite gained separate identities away from Edgar Bergen.

Anyway on Bergen's show, Bill Fields was a frequent guest and the repartee between Fields and McCarthy is still classic. Even without knowing that background, today's audience can still enjoy You Can't Cheat an Honest Man because the comedy is eternal.

There's not much of a plot except for Moore loving Bergen, but being ready to marry snobbish James Bush to help her father in his financial troubles. I'm sure you can figure out how that goes, especially when prospect in-laws Thurston Hall and Mary Forbes meet Fields at a little clambake they're throwing.

The circus offers a range of opportunity for some great gags including trying to pry Charlie McCarthy out of an alligator, an elephant who gives Fields showers on command and of course sawing Charlie in half during a magic act.

Still it's the repartee between Fields and Bergen and another of the unforgettable characterizations that Bill Fields brings us which makes You Can't Cheat An Honest Man a comedy classic.

Actually, for the short number of years W C Fields worked in Hollywood, this is one of his better films. It features Edgar Bergen & his dummies Charlie McCarthy & Mortimer Snerd. All these stars have good sequences. The idea of getting these stars together came from the old time radio show feuds they were having on the radio. If your into old time radio, get a hold of some of these classics.

The film itself is ghost written by Fields about a crafty circus owner, Larson E. Whipsnade who is always one step ahead of bankruptcy & the law at every town he stops in. He is trying to help his daughter go to college.

The best sequence is when Larson E Whipsnade is selling tickets to his shows & a couple of seedy characters give him a large bill to make change of to pay for the tickets. Whipsnade counts out the bills like he is giving them too much change by doubling the bills over. The cons don't realize this until they try to take off with the extra change.

They return indignant to the ticket window because they have been shorted. Then Larson E. makes his most famous quote when refusing their refund, "Count your change before leaving the window!" The film itself is solid except for the ending which is a little fuzzy as to where the film is going from here. If it was left that way on purpose, no sequel was ever considered.

"You Can't Cheat An Honest Man" is a rather poor comedy for W.C Fields. The film has virtually no plot and few laughs. The whole production is also too restricted in its setting, being that of a circus. As in other comedies, Fields is on the run from the law and narrowly avoids trouble. The running time is 75 minutes but it felt longer to me. Reducing the film to about 62 minutes might have been an improvement. The scene involving the game of table tennis was OK, at least the sketch had a bit of zeal. Fields causing upset at some big society social gathering was quite good also. However, those scenes can't compensate for a film that really needed a stronger story and better laughs. The ending was very disappointing, in that it was abrupt and left the film unfinished. "Universal" studios gave W.C Fields better films than the above.

1939 is considered to be one of the best years for filmmaking in Hollywood, and indeed it is,"Wuthering Heights","Wizard of Oz", "Gone With The Wind","Dark Victory","Ninotchka" just to name a few, all came out in that year. But one film seldomly mentioned along with these is, "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man," a fabulous comedy written by "Charles Bogle" is one W.C. Fields' greatest comedies. This one involves Fields (as Larson E. Whipsnade) as a crooked carnival operator, being constantly pestered by Charlie McCarthy, while trying to stay one step ahead of the sheriff. But it is all just an excuse to show Fields doing some of his best comedy routines. No real coherent plot, it dosen't need one! The barbs passed between McCarthy and Fields has them both in their prime. With Edgar Burgen doing some routines that made him famous. Mortimer Snerd even makes an appearance.And who can forget that ping-pong match! Watch then agree, that this is one of the best comedies of the time and deserving of being placed on the list of classics of 1939. Best Line: "Someone stole the cork from my lunch."

Some of the Charlie McCarthy routines are fun, especially the magic acts. Fields is typical in a flimflam man role and has a few good routines too.

Starring Edgar Bergen as the romantic is hard to believe, as is watching his lips move as Charlie McCarthy talks (note that the 'b' sound is hardest for ventriloquists).

I didn't find this to one of W. C. Fields' better films. It had its moments, but really seemed more of an Edgar Bergen movie than a W. C. Fields. Until reading the synopses on IMDb, I was unaware of the "feud" between Fields and Charlie McCarthy. So I can see the impetus for trying to cash in on the popular radio feature. I understand that there was a different style in humor in those days, but it was before my time, so really only the very best examples end up resonating with me. I was a bit impressed with Constance Moore, with whom I was unfamiliar. She was utter eye candy and acted her role as The Great Man's daughter superbly. I must look up some more of her work.

Crooked Larson E. Whipsnade (W. C. Fields) owns a debt-ridden traveling circus. He is always one step ahead of the debt collectors and local law enforcements. The Great Edgar (Edgar Bergen) and his ventriloquist dummy Charlie McCarthy are his new star attraction. The bosses' daughter Victoria Whipsnade comes for a visit and falls for the new act.

I don't always get the charms of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. They are mildly humorous at the best of times. Edgar looks like a banker and has the personality of one. I don't want to hate on them but they aren't that funny to me. In this one, they're fine and they get to play against W. C. Fields. The mixture is pretty good. It's good family fun although one must be warned. Charlie has a black-faced section. That's the era for you.

W. C. Fields plays Whipsnade a fast talking shyster who is struggling to keep his second rate circus going.

Whipsnade is avoiding his creditors, his daughter is in love with ventriloquist Bergen who has two dummies and no money. However her daughter decides to marry a smarmy millionaire in order to help her father out.

At the engagement party, Whipsnade embarrasses her daughter's future in laws.

This is a fast frenetic comedy. Fields is true to form with his quick one liners usually filled with insults. Bergen is fun with his dummies.

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man does not quiet last the pace but the film is not overlong. The humour is very much of the zany variety.

This has probably become Feild's most underrated film. It has a few clumsy scenes, probably the most questionable racial "jokes" (through, given the milieu, probably quite true to life), and a lot of screen time goes to Edgar and Charlie.

Still, it is quite a wonderful film; and it retains the fundamental wacko universe that defines top Feilds. Some of the circus stuff is pretty amazing too, and they get a fine performance from the Lion tamer.

I think the ending probably must have looked so bad in the editing room they just said the hell with it and went for the sort of non ending with Mortimer. No matter, it's a jem, and if not "A" grade W.C., it's very close.

For some reason, I've never cared much for Edgar Bergen. It wasn't the fact that he wasn't a very good ventriloquist. I think it was a kind of smugness in his personality. Still, as he plays associate comedian to W. C. Fields, his banter with Charlie McCarthy pretty much matches Fields' shtick. This involves a crummy circus with Fields as the proprietor, one step ahead of the creditors and another ahead of the law. Fields sometimes does the clueless thing, but he is usually in control, and he does have a kind of code. This isn't one of my favorites but just try to keep up with the one liners.

Coming off a three-year alcoholism-induced convalescence, W. C. Fields struggles more than a bit to show why he was the male comedy star of the 1930s. He finds a crutch in a three-and-a-half-foot wooden co- star named Charlie McCarthy.

Does he need it? The evidence of "You Can't Cheat An Honest Man" suggests so. Fields here has a lot of stunt doubles doing pratfalls, is absent from many scenes, and audio overdubs abound. The bare- bones story presents him as Larsen E. Whipsnade, a carnival owner keeping one step ahead of the law while rooking both ticket-buyers and employees. When his daughter lines up a rich suitor, Whipsnade's money troubles appear over, but will McCarthy and his partner Edgar Bergen ruin the marriage plans?

Other reviewers here say they enjoy Fields but find the Bergen- McCarthy material annoying. It's the opposite for me. The more I watch Fields' hat pulls and mutterings, the more I sigh and wait impatiently for the next scene. His constant cheating and overall nastiness gets to be a chore. He's just not that funny here.

"I'd rather have two girls at 21 each than one girl at 42," he sings, apropos of nothing. Or when one of his underlings asks for his salary: "You'll get your celery, and olives and mustard, too."

But the Bergen-McCarthy stuff is funny. The notion of the runaway ventriloquist dummy was done before, but the delightful absurdity of Charlie finding himself inside an alligator calling out for help is played up winningly like in the classic Fields comedies "Million Dollar Legs" and "Never Give A Sucker An Even Break."

Bergen's ventriloquism was not difficult to catch out, something he calls out himself here. (Girl: "How do you talk without moving your lips?" Charlie: "You're asking the wrong man!") But he invests Charlie with a real personality, and the interplay between the two is such it's easy to buy them as a duo rather than a guy talking to himself. I love the bit where they are on a balloon and Edgar asks Charlie to keep a lookout so he can woo Whipsnade's daughter in private.

"You like him, don't you," the daughter asks Bergen about Whipsnade.

"Talk yourself out of that one!" prods Charlie.

The best scenes Fields has in this film have him play off McCarthy and Bergen, except one where Fields works his own ventriloquist act on a stony-faced audience. The rest of the time, he relies on dodging-the-sheriff gags and double-talking a gullible Grady Sutton out of his money.

Apparently Fields didn't get on with credited director George Marshall; the patchiness of a troubled shoot shows up especially at the end, where the carnival setting is ditched for a society soirée where Fields continually shocks the matron by throwing the word "snake" into his outlandish stories, then adjourns for an overlong ping-pong match and more stunt doubling.

Fields kept himself in the public eye during his convalescence doing radio appearances with Edgar and Charlie; at its best "Honest Man" brings some of this revitalizing energy and evergreen insult humor to screen. But there's a lot of fat and fluff on this one, and with Fields seemingly on shaky ground, it's less a film to recommend than a cultural curiosity of its time featuring a recovering legend and a terrific puppet show.

This is quite a hilarious W.C. Fields movie. It's also the first time he's teamed on screen with Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy, after previously doing so on radio. Their feud on that audio medium was very popular and it seemed to also work on the big screen as they would subsequently appear in another movie together. Some scenes may make one cringe like when Charlie dons blackface but in this case, it seems to be to keep from being recognized and not because of something against a certain race. Speaking of whom, this was another of Eddie Anderson's film appearances during a time he was also playing Rochester on Jack Benny's radio program. He doesn't get to be too funny but his reaction to possibly being W.C. Fields' victim involving an elephant gun was a pretty funny one for him. Bergen's other dummy, Mortimer Snerd, also appears and is also pretty funny. The plot about Fields' daughter's possible marriage to a rich man isn't much but does provide some highlights of W.C.'s low-income circus man mixing with High Society of which one of the women in that latter group is afraid of snakes to the point of fainting at the mention of one! There's so much that's funny here but I'll just say You Can't Cheat an Honest Man is highly recommended and leave it at that! P.S. I watched this on YouTube along with an intro and outro uploaded from TCM hosted by Ben Mankiewicz and Dr. Harriet Fields, W.C.'s granddaughter.

I'm a big fan of classic films. I count, "A Nous La Liberte", "The Third Man" and "Vertigo" as some my very favourites. But, classic films are a product of their time and that means that, occasionally, they feature moments that are awkward or just plain offensive. Those moments are often the product of views and values that we, in 2019, have for the most part, thankfully, discarded. For the most part. Ahem.

Now, I know there's a counter argument always lurking in the grass somewhere that says, "Well, those were the times." I've used that same argument with my girlfriend whenever she has expressed her dislike of sexism in an old black and white film. Ah, but how would you feel if you were the target and a historically discriminated against demographic?

That brings me to WC Fields' film from 1939 called, "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man." 1939...the beginning of WWII; pre-Martin Luther King and his transformative effect on American society; pre-second wave feminism. In other words, a long, long time ago. So, when Edgar Bergen applied shoe polish to his dummy Charlie McCarthy's face just so the wooden puppet could make a joke about being all "...blacked out", well, that, for me, landed about as well as a turd in a bowl of soup.

WC Fields plays Larson E. Whipsnade (get it?), the owner of a circus up to its' eyeballs in debt. Edgar Bergen and Charlie play an act in the failing circus as well as Whipsnade's constant irritants.

Much of the very slim, barely plotted, 79 minute running time is set at the circus and chronicles the raucous battle between Larson E. and the Bergen-McCarthy twosome. And some of it is funny. And some of it is not. The highlight being when Larson E. feeds Charlie to an alligator. Ha! A raucous game of ping pong, late in the film, is also a delight. This was the first time around for me in the deliriously bent world of WC Fields. His cantankerous, cynic, con-man character, who spits out venom at pretty much everyone he interacts with, was, mostly, a delight. His nihilism is in your face. There's no sugar coating it for him. He is who he is and too bad for you.

He taps into the cynic in all of us who can easily remember a day - month? year? - where we, too, came to the sorry conclusion that life was a sham and adopted a "to hell with all of it" attitude.

That brings us back to the blackface scene which just sunk any goodwill or kindness I'd otherwise show towards the flim for its' missteps and shortcomings. Slight, occasionally bright, with offensive material that taints the entire movie.

Edgar Bergen, the ventriloquist, was a big star on radio. This film shows why he and Charlie McCarthy were so popular. Building on their radio feud with the great W.C. Fields, Bergen and McCarthy add their unique talents to this inspired lunacy.

Favorite line: Fields has thrown McCarthy into a pit of a dozen snarling alligators.

McCarthy: Help me, Bergen! Get me out! Bergen: Which one are you in? McCarthy: Who cares? Get me out of all of them!

If you are an old-time radio fan, check out this little

Making a Comeback to the Screen After a Three Year Break to Rest and Retain His Control Over Drink, W.C. Fields Finds Himself Able, Although Maybe a Step Slow, to Perform and Write the Script. While Not At the Top of His Game, Fields Manages Quite Well as Scribe and His Acerbic Way of Charming Audiences.

He Brings Along Edgar Bergen with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, the Two Wooden Dummies. Fields Had Kept His Hand In on the Radio During His Movie Break and had Cultivated a Running Feud on the Airwaves that Proved Quite Popular. So it was Only Natural that They Help W.C. with His Return to the Silver Screen.

They Did Prove Adequate and Perhaps Made the Picture More Popular with the Kiddies and the Circus Backdrop Also Helped with the Younger Set. W.C. Fields Humor was Strictly Speaking "Adult" in Nature, So This was a Bit Different but a Good Contrast. Some May Say that This is Diluted Fields, but Considering the Aging Comedian was on Shaky Ground, it Didn't Hurt the Film that Much.

The Film as a Whole has Enough of Fields to Make it Worthy of His Other Work. The Ping Pong Match, the Circus Shenanigans, and the Wordsmith Fields Fills the Film with Puns, Odd Sounding Words and Phrases, and Some Delirious Sight Gags, Like the Alligator Pit.

The Movie was a Good Comeback for Fields, Although One Could Sense there Weren't Many Good Years Left as the Decade Closed. In the Thirties Though, W.C. Fields was a Top Draw and a Genius of the Genre.

Note…W.C. Fields made one more bona fide classic…The Bank Dick (1940).

You Can't Cheat An Honest Man (1939) : Brief Review -

You can't cheat an honest movie fan with a lame attempt at the classic "The Old Fashioned Way" (1934). WC Fields has done many great comedies in the 30s, but "The Old Fashioned Way" is my top favorite. It's not just a great comedy, but it has that sentimental touch at the end-something what we saw in Charlie Chaplin's cult "The Circus." Don't know why You Can't Cheat An Honest Man looked like a lame copy of that movie. A circus owner is struggling to pay his debts and is trying to avoid the cashiers. Amidst his feeble attempts, his daughter comes to visit the circus and falls in love with a ventriloquist. But when she learns about her father's debts, she decides to marry a rich fella who has been pursuing her for a long time. To be frank, that entire ventriloquist stuff was a big disaster. He was making the puppet talk even on unnecessary occasions. Forget that, but those puppets could talk even when the ventriloquist wasn't present. In one scene, we see a lion eating the wooden puppet, and yet he is talking. Seriously, what the hell? Fields' storytelling in the marriage scene didn't look funny at all. It looked forced. However, the table game was fun. It's unbearable to see WC Fields fail to make you laugh when most of the screen space is under his skin. Edgar Bergen has done an excellent job with his puppet, but it was too overdone. Too many scenes for them and too much talk spoiled the mood during many good-looking scenes. Constance Moore had only one job, and that was to look cute and beautiful. She did it. John Arledge hardly has three scenes and doesn't leave any impact. The film had a decent screenplay, but it lacked comic punches. George Marshall and Edward F. Cline made a film that can be forgotten within 5 minutes after the end appears. I wasn't just ready for such a mediocre show from Fields, so I am feeling more sad.

RATING - 5/10*

By - #samthebestest.