His Lordship's Dilemma

The study of the life and and career of W.C.Fields has been an obsession with me since 1967 when I witnessed my dad roar with laughter while watching THE BANK DICK. This was also the year that Deschner's book "The Films of W.C.Fields" surfaced. Since then I've continued to read and study about Fields in an effort to absorb as much information as I can about his life both professionally and personally. I heartily agree with other enthusiasts who have called Fields fascinating as well as extremely complex. It is as I said an obsession with me and I am unable to veil my bias. Naturally, news of the existence of a supposedly lost Fields film is to myself and other like minded persons a find akin to that of the Holy Grail or Dead Sea scrolls. Given the fact that the reviewer (whom I have subsequently learned since writing these notes was a notorious head case and is now deceased as a result of a deliberate choice he made) claimed to have seen this item as well as two other missing Fields films my curiosity is I feel not without justification. Despite what I now know about the aforementioned "reviewer" I nevertheless have several questions relevant to this situation which I have detailed in my notes on TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE (1928) and FOOLS FOR LUCK (1928). If any of what I've broached here is of interest to you then may I please direct your attention to those thoughts which may be found under those entries.

I can understand the skepticism of the reviewer who wondered why the first reviewer had supposedly seen several apparently lost W C Fields movies no one else had.What makes me think perhaps he has is the very detailed description the first reviewer gives of this film.Either he has seen it at some time or read a very detailed account of it.If the latter, apparently William K. Everson was not able to locate it, as in his book The Art of W C Fields he acts as if nothing is known about the film. The first reviewer may have seen a print in a private collection in Belgium and was unable to tell us where because of an agreement,or perhaps it is in some obscure public institution and simply has not been made known to the general public because nobody in the institution thought it important. It just didn't occur to them that anyone would be interested.Knowing librarians as I do, that is easily possible. A well known rare book dealer once stated that only 2% of librarians knew the true function of a library.I think that his estimate was on the generous side.