W.C. Fields and Me

I had the unique perspective of living at the set in La Canada, California at the time this movie was being filmed.(I was working at nearby JPL in Pasadena) I appreciated the director's attention to detail and was able to meet Rod Steiger and Valerie Perrine between "takes." The sets were fantastic, as were the performances. The crew spent about three weeks preparing the house and bringing in the properties that were used to re-create W.C. Fields's home. The crew painstakingly stenciled 1930s designs near the ceiling of the room. Since that would make the living room stand out, they carried the design into several other rooms that were not used during the production! There is a scene of the outside of the house that shows the room that I was living in.

One of the rules on the set was that no one could imitate W.C. Fields while Rod Steiger was on the set. I believe that Rod worked very hard to portray W.C. Fields in a realistic way. (He was one nasty character!)

Please bring this movie out on DVD!

In 1976, Universal spent significant money to bring two golden-age Hollywood biopics to the screen: Gable and Lombard and W.C. Fields and Me. Both were panned, gave little return on the money spent, and have been relegated to rarely seen, not-on-video status. I haven't seen Gable since the year of its release, but caught up with W.C. on cable awhile back. It's imperfect, but certainly interesting, well-acted and worth another look. (I'd like to see Gable again, too, to see if it's worse or better than I remember.)

Steiger gives a good interpretation of Fields, though unable to channel the unique comic gifts that he possessed. It was always good to see Perrine onscreen in her too-few roles, and Jack Cassidy was effective in one of his last roles prior to his untimely death. The design and technical work result in a great look, unfortunately panned and scanned in the TV version that is seen today (when it's seen at all.)

Interestingly, the Fields portrayal can be traced back to the memorable serial killer Steiger portrayed in 1968's No Way To Treat A Lady, adapting several disguises and voices, one of which evoked Fields. Universal has been pretty good about releasing older films of theirs to DVD at a good price; how about a couple of widescreen editions of these flawed but interesting biopics?

Carlotta Monti, a would-be Hollywood hopeful in the 1930s, met rascally, alcoholic, volatile comedy actor W.C. Fields at a movie wrap-party and was later invited out to his spread, supposedly to talk about a part in his next picture; there wasn't one, but she spent the next fourteen years with him anyway, playing his loving--though seemingly platonic--mistress who also acted as Fields' personal stenographer, script girl, cook, maid, and mother-figure-cum-warden. Based on Monti's memoir, and with her advisory assistance, this biography of Fields seems pretty truthful and not a white-washed kiss-up job. Director Arthur Hiller and star Rod Steiger do not shy away from showing W.C. as an occasional heel, a heartless, self-confessed son-of-a-bitch. Yet, the movie's best moments are the quieter ones (Fields' brotherly relationship with a little person, his reunion with the son he hadn't seen in twenty years, his reaction after Carlotta discovers how lonely he is). Steiger, whose make-up job causes him to resemble a portly Van Johnson rather than Fields, is a bit shrill in places, and he gets off to a bad start; however, Steiger eases into the role with obvious relish, and his eagerness to showcase this incredible personality definitely comes through (his final scene in bed is a heartbreaker). Valerie Perrine as Carlotta is also too shrill (which can be blamed on Hiller's handling), but she matches up well with Steiger and doesn't take too much guff off him. The sequences set in and around the movie studio never quite achieve the magic we hope they'll reach (they're squashy and limp, due--partially at least--to David M. Walsh's terrible cinematography). However, the central relationship is nicely carried off, aided by a lovely Henry Mancini score and good character actors in support. A forgotten film--yet another sitting on the shelf down at Universal--but worth seeking out, especially to see Steiger's work. **1/2 from ****

When I first went to see this movie in a theater I went to watch Steiger, who never, to my knowledge, did a lick of comedy previously, fall flat on his face.

However, about five minutes into the movie I could no longer see Steiger. He had so well portrayed the great comic that you would think he invoked the very spirit of Fields and allowed Fields to tell his own story.

The research behind the acting must have been quite thorough, as I never once saw anything I could fault. His mastery of Fields speech patterns was impeccable and not overdone like so many who attempt to sound like Fields. The story line never took liberties for dramatic effect, and as far as I can tell, remained true to the real life and events of W.C.Fields.

I can only hope that, some day the studio will relent and put this great movie out on DVD or Blu-Ray; despite the poor box office returns. I really would like to see this movie again; and consider it one of the all time great biographical works.

Glad to see like minded people reviewing this movie. Although it has been years and years since I first saw it, it left a lasting impression. I can't really say why, other than I am a Steiger fan, but I do believe he brought something new to what I know of the character W C Fields.

I too would, like my fellow fans, like to see this distributed on DVD. The film has been a topic of discussion with work colleagues, and even though I have said that it wasn't the 'greatest' of productions, it was definitely worth seeing.

If the big wigs are reading, please, give me back a bit of my youth, lets have this on DVD!