Running Wild

For W. C. Fields, only three silent features are available for home viewing (So's Your Old Man" exists but has remained stubbornly elusive), and 1927's "Running Wild" must be considered the best on an unfortunately short list. 1925's "Sally of the Sawdust" must be considered a curio, as director D. W. Griffith shifted the focus away from Fields toward current muse Carol Dempster, making the 1936 remake "Poppy" a far more faithful rendition. "It's the Old Army Game" is the one other silent that compares favorably with "Running Wild," but at 105 minutes runs on a tad long (Louise Brooks, still a luminous teenager, takes too much footage away from Fields). "Running Wild" co-stars Mary Brian as Fields' loving daughter, a role she would repeat in the 1935 classic "Man on the Flying Trapeze," sometimes identified as a remake but proving decidedly different. This probably represents Fields at his most downtrodden, henpecked by a shrewish wife still pining for her first husband, browbeaten by a loafing invalid stepson crying for his mother whenever he wants to get his father's goat (even the family dog doesn't like him). Employed by the same toy company for 20 years (too meek to ask for a raise), he ends up with the courage to fight back after being unwittingly hypnotized by a stage magician, convinced he is now 'a lion!' Even before the benefit of sound, this film proves that W. C. Fields was in total control of his own work, with most of the comic business unique to this one production.

Running Wild (1927)

*** (out of 4)

Elmer Finch (W.C. Fields) is one of the biggest cowards that you're ever going to meet. He's had the same job for twenty-years and has never gotten a raise yet he's too scared to say anything. Even worse is his life at home where his second wife and stepson push him around. All of this changes when he's hypnotized and believes that he's a lion, which brings out a tough side he never knew he had.

RUNNING WILD is a film that can easily be called classic Fields. I know a lot of people are just so familiar with that wonderful voice that they never warm up to his silent pictures but I'm curious if those people have seen this film because it's quite funny and it perfectly uses Fields' talents to get some great laughs throughout the short running time.

The film clocks in at just 67-minutes and the first forty-minutes are devoted to seeing what a wimp this character is. We get a long stretch at his house where we see him getting pushed around by the wife and one of the most annoying jerks of a child that the screen has ever seen. We then see him getting pushed around by his boss as well as a man who owes the company a lot of cash. Throughout these scenes there is a nice and steady pace of laughs but there's no question that the highlight of the film is when the lion comes out.

Fields basically turns into a madman as he runs around with boxing gloves on, screams he's a lion and beats everyone up who confronts him. The maniac-style that Fields brings to the role was quite hilarious and just look at his eyes and see how crazy he really does seem. These scenes were certainly hilarious and I think they'd sell everyone on the fact that Fields could perfectly handle a silent movie. The supporting players are good but there's no question that the film belongs to Fields.

RUNNING WILD is a bit uneven at times and the first portion doesn't have many huge laughs but there's no question that fans of Fields should enjoy this.

Starts slowly (though the opening exercise scene is a fun satire of the radio exercise programs of the day), but once Fields gets hypnotized and transformed, it really gets going.

Good supporting cast, especially his boy (Junior) and the dog.

Report from Cinevent 2007: RUNNING WILD (****) One of the few W.C. Fields silents NOT remade as a Paramount talkie-- though the setup is awfully close to The Man on the Flying Trapeze, with Fields as an office drudge with a messy desk and a wife and pampered stepson who have him beaten down. The turning point of the plot takes it in a more visual direction, though-- his inner lion is released by a hypnotist and he literally runs wild, delivering comeuppance to all his tormentors in a lengthy comedy-action sequence. It had the audience in stitches, and showed that while his silents lack one of the talkies' great assets-- his voice-- they also had sides of his persona lacking in the films made when he was older and less agile.

W.C. Fields portrays Elmer Finch, a milquetoast whose persona is sunk with fear of everything, including sidewalk lines, but particularly of his wife, stepson and boss, resulting in a comically miserable life with affection shared only with his daughter, played by the excellent Mary Brian. His extreme inferiority complex has kept him mired in the same dull job for 20 years without promotion or pay raise, as he is overly timid about approaching his employer, performed very well by Frederick Burton in his final silent effort. All of this comes to an abrupt end, due to Finch finding a horseshoe, as the scenario cleverly builds to a point where chance controls events, and Elmer has an opportunity to revise his failed life. The second half of the film becomes largely farce, with a rather slender and extremely energetic Fields not being still for a moment, with his body or his extremely expressive face, as he produces all of the crowdpleasing correctives that are called for by the script. The story is graced with a splendid organ score written and performed by the ever reliable Gaylord Carter and is well written and directed by Gregory La Cava, who continued in the talkies at the helm of such snappy classics as MY MAN GODFREY and STAGE DOOR.