“EVER DONE ANY BOONDOGGLING?”

By Raymond Benson

Continuing the examination of Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray releases of the W. C. Fields catalog of classic comedies, we now look at The Bank Dick, easily one of the actor/comedian’s greatest works.

Released in 1940 (titled The Bank Detective in the U.K.), Fields was starting to wind down, whether he knew it or not. Alcoholism was taking its toll, and it wouldn’t be long before his amazing run in cinema since the silent era would soon come to an end. He still had some surprises in his pockets, though, and The Bank Dick was one of them.

“Ever done in any boondoggling?” Fields, as Egbert Sousé, submits to another character in the film. In a way, he’s asking that of the audience, too. For The Bank Dick is nothing but a load of boondoggling, and funny stuff it is.

Sousé is the shame of his family. Most folks mispronounce his name, calling him what he is—a souse. His shrew of a wife, Agatha (Cora Witherspoon), his demon of a mother-in-law, Hermisillo (Jessie Ralph), his mortified daughter, Myrtle (Una Merkel), and youngest daughter, Elsie Mae (Evelyn Del Rio), all make poor Egbert’s life miserable. All he wants to do is spend time at the Black Pussy Cat Café, a saloon run by his pal Joe (Shemp Howard). (“Was I in here last night and did I spend a twenty dollar bill?” he asks Joe, who replies affirmatively. Egbert is relieved. “Oh boy, what a load that is off my mind! I thought I’d lost it!”) However, Egbert’s luck changes one day when the director of a film really gets soused and can’t work. The A.D. grabs Egbert and offers him the job to step in. Then, during a lunch break on the set, Egbert unwittingly foils a bank robbery. As a result of his “heroism,” he’s offered a job as a “bank dick.” It so happens that Myrtle’s boyfriend, Og Oggilby (Grady Sutton) works at the same bank. When auditor J. Pinkerton Snoopington (Franklin Pangborn) arrives to work the books, Og is afraid the man will discover financial juggling that he and his future father-in-law have committed. Hilarity ensues.

Written by Fields (as Mahatma Kane Jeeves—“my hat, my cane, Jeeves!”), the picture contains an abundance of the actor’s funniest lines and comebacks. He is also surrounded by numerous other wacky character actors, creating a theatre of the absurd that culminates in one of the craziest car chases put on film. Director Edward Cline was no slouch when it came to comedy—he had collaborated with Buster Keaton in the 1920s, as well as with Fields, most recently on the Fields/Mae West co-starrer, My Little Chickadee. Cline’s control of the action and the anything-can-happen antics of his star is impressive. It’s no wonder that Cline and Fields were a good team.

Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray release looks appropriately grainy but with a sheen that previous DVD releases were without. The feature comes with an audio commentary by the knowledgeable film historian Michael Schlesinger, who always gives good gab. The theatrical trailer, along with other Kino Lorber titles, completes the presentation.

The Bank Dick is priceless comedy. It’s one of the two or three titles that belong in a time capsule sporting the identifying label: “This was W. C. Fields.” Highly recommended.

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