Rating: 
Summary: The best Fields you can get
Review: I've always been a big fan of W.C. Fields and I've always been disappointed in the quality (and quantity) of his work that is available. With the 6 short films, Criterion is doing a great job of preserving W.C. Fields for future generations. I wouldn't argue that some of his other films (such as "Never give a sucker...") are better than "The Bank Dick", but they're not available on DVD (let alone after being restored as this film has been). I won't rehash the plot, except to say that the notion of a petty criminal always keeping one step ahead from being found out is continually repeated and nobody did it better than Fields. A big part of the enjoyment of watching Field's movies is to find out how he lands on his feet. Field's survives in his world like a cat; with grace and only barely acknowledging what has been going on around him.
Rating: 
Summary: W.C. Fields, the unlikely star, in one of his best movies
Review: I've seen "The Bank Dick" so many times, it's a little hard to review it. It's been on TV for decades and was probably one of the first movies I ever saw. I think I like it so much because it, as well as its star, W.C. Fields, is quite atypical of the Hollywood of the time [1940]. Indeed, the very fact that Fields became a star who commanded a fortune is a happy anomaly in movie history. He had a bulbous nose, he was overweight, and he is reputed to have been drunk much of the time, both on the set and off. He didn't like children or dogs. He drove the Hayes office, the self-censorship arm of the industry at the time, mad with his double entendres and with his characters who lied, cheated stole, and, worst of all, almost never paid for their sins. There are several reasons he was so successful, I think. The primary one is that he was relentlessly funny. Another is that he was always honest because, in his poking fun at everyone, he never forgot to include himself. Finally, he appealed then, as he still does today, to those who love to see hypocrisy satirized. Like all Fields movies, "The Bank Dick" barely has a plot at all. It simply careens from one improbably situation to the next. Fields is Egbert Souse of Lompoc, CA. He lives with his wife, mother-in-law and two daughters. They constantly henpeck and ridicule him. One day a movie company comes to town, and somehow Souse finds himself hired as the picture's director. This leads to his apprehending a bank robber, which, in turn, leads to his getting a job as a guard at the bank. Then, there is the character who comes along selling stock in a failed mine. One of the hapless buyers is souse's future son-in-law, who 'borrows' the money from the bank for a few days, only to have a bank auditor show up moments later. You call this a plot? Well, forget about the story. It's all just an excuse for the wonderful physical comedy, the sharp, witty dialog, and Field's remarkable line deliveries. I should mention that Fields surrounded himself with some of the great character actors of his time. The cast of "The Bank Dick" includes Una Merkel, Cora Witherspoon, Frank Pangborn, Grady Sutton and Shemp Howard, who later became famous as one of the Three Stooges.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good for Sketch Comedy
Review: If this had been made 20 or 30 years later, it would have been great television stuff like Monty Python or Benny Hill. Essentially plotless w/ Fields careening around. Fun but no reason to own it.
Rating:
Summary: W.C. Field's best and most original comedy.
Review: Long before the age of "South Park" or even "Monty Python," Fields was breaking the rules of comedy. This film is not only very funny, but oddly surreal. The great comedian sets everything in a small town that is somewhere Fields could have only created. All the kids are brats, all the women are shrews, and Fields' character is kind of a moron. This film works because he is able to have a hateful attitude towards everything and everyone without losing a sense of humor towards his own drunken persona. It is just completely brillant. It's better than having a "beer river flowing over your grandmother's shawl."
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely hilarious.
Review: Not only does this film feature a truly clever car chase, it is probably the first of its kind to deal with the subject of "boondoggling." Secondary characters like Mackley Q. Green ("...a man more beset by troubles, you'll never see...") and J. Pinkerton Snoopington make it worth viewing again and again. Fields deserved a "hearty handclasp" for making this one.
Rating:
Summary: Criterion and Fields... A Match Made in Heaven
Review: Take a classic comedy and combine it with a company dedicated to bringing you the best quality products on the market and what you get is a DVD that is worth the money! If you want to really enjoy WC Fields in one of his last truly great films, get this version! The print is pristine and the sound is cleaner and clearer than I have ever heard it. It's a lot of money, but worth it for such a good movie. This is not a review the movie itself in detail here. Most people know this classic, and a lot of people have done that already. This is for the DVD. I am dissapointed they couldn't of done a commentary track, but I will forgive them since it is such a nice print of the movie. The Criterion edition is for movie lovers and lovers of WC Fields. I hate wasting money or spending extra when not needed, but this is worth it. It's quality.
Rating:
Summary: Essential W.C. Fields DVD
Review: The Bank Dick is pure Fields and the best of his feature films (with My Little Chickadee a close second). The comedy is timeless; most of the jokes, although written 60 years ago , are relevant today. Supporting cast is brilliant. A must have for all classic comedy fans.
Rating:
Summary: FIELDS OF NIGHTMARES
Review: The world of W.C. FIELDS is a very peculiar one ; it is filled with clouds of smoke and empty bottles, with terrible children deserving to be lashed to blood and with nightmarish wives and mother-in-laws. Always ready to help his fellow companions, our poor hero must also cope with heartless bankers and dishonest crooks (yes, they exist ! ). If you are a movie lover, this particular world deserves a royal place on your library's shelves, W.C. FIELDS playing, in my opinion, in the same league than Buster Keaton, Charles S. Chaplin, the Marx Brothers or Jerry Lewis. The League of the Champions of the Absurdness. Nevertheless, the price of this Criterion release, without bonus features, except for english subtitles, could discourage the average amateur. THE BANK DICK lasts only 74 minutes but offers two or three scenes worthy to appear in an anthology of the best comic scenes ever filmed. I specially loved the car chase, involving three cars, a motorcycle and a W.C. FIELDS destructing his car while driving at 70 miles per hour. But dialogs are also extremely funny, completing the pleasure that you are certainly going to have with one of the Masters of comic movies. A DVD dedicated to mother-in-laws.
Rating:
Summary: fields at his best
Review: this is fields in top form! this is one of his best offerings of the movies he made. well written by fields,(under the name,mahatma kane jeeves)and performed as only he can do.this one is a must for any wc fields, or classic comedy fan
Rating:
Summary: This is Just Too Funny
Review: This is the second best Fields film (after It's a Gift) and it's similar in that it casts Fields as the lovable drunk with an absolutely hateful family. From the almost surreal episode directing the movie to the eye-poppingly ridiculous chase scene, this one is pure comic entertainment. One side note: it's sad and not a little scary how bloated and tired the Great Man looks in this compared to just six years earlier when It's a Gift was released
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