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.

I first became interested in W.C. Fields in the late 1960s after seeing some of his movies on TV, and soon read all the books about him I could get my hands on. One thing I was dismayed to learn was that most of his silent movies were believed to be missing, including the bulk of the feature films he made at the Paramount-Astoria studio in New York in the late '20s. Happily, in the years since then a number of these films have been rediscovered, restored, and publicly screened. While it must be said that Fields was at a disadvantage in silent movies without his distinctive voice and delivery, two of the recovered works, It's the Old Army Game and So's Your Old Man, are generally pleasant and amusing, if not on par with his talkie classics. A third survivor, Running Wild, is in my opinion something of a misfire, however. Here the problem wasn't the lack of sound so much as an ill-conceived story for which Fields was not well suited, not to mention a sour tone that isn't much alleviated by the occasional flashes of humor.

Fields plays downtrodden Elmer Finch, the kind of timid soul who would have been called a "milquetoast" at the time, but would be called a wimp (or worse) today. Elmer lives in fear of his nasty wife and her son by an earlier marriage, a fat teenage boy who devotes all his time to tormenting his step-father and step-sister, Mary. (Mary is played by the gorgeous Mary Brian, perhaps best remembered as Wendy opposite Betty Bronson's Peter Pan.) Mrs. Finch and Junior openly express their contempt for Elmer, calling him a "boob" and a "sap," and the boy sics his dog on him. Where his career is concerned, things are no better. Elmer works as a low-level clerk at a toy manufacturing firm; he hasn't been promoted in twenty years and is considered a dunce, an opinion he confirms when he alienates an important client and thus loses a crucial account. Through a series of unlikely circumstances Elmer winds up on stage at a vaudeville show during a mesmerism act, and is hypnotized into believing that he is a "roaring lion." He escapes from the theater before the hypnotist can lift the spell, and, in a kind of angry daze, goes on a long-suppressed rampage, using brute force and intimidation to regain that important account for his firm, get promoted, frighten his wife into submission, and beat the living daylights out of his obese step-son.

Maybe this sounds like a satisfying wish-fulfillment scenario, but I found it unpleasant and only rarely amusing. Perhaps the main problem was that in the opening scenes Elmer Finch is so thoroughly degraded that, while we might pity him, he's too hapless to serve as a proper leading man, even in a comedy. It's not a joy to watch W.C. Fields play this character. In some of his later films Fields would surround himself with mean, grasping family members, and he'd sometimes play the henpecked husband, yet he learned to retain a shred of dignity and also to give indications of rebellion simmering underneath. But in this film Fields' character is so defeated it's dispiriting to see, and the first portion of the story dwells on Elmer's multiple humiliations to the point of masochism.

Once Elmer inadvertently becomes a "lion," however, the film trades masochism for sadism, and the time-honored satisfaction of watching a worm turn is dampened by the crude, violent behavior that marks his transformation. Now, instead of cringing, Elmer bellows at everyone, throws punches, calls the directors of his firm "numbskulls" and "fatheads," and generally behaves like a drunken bully. When he gets home he yells at his wife and then thrashes his step-son for no particular reason, just to show him who's boss. And yet Elmer's dazzled wife and daughter now call him "wonderful," and we're apparently meant to feel the same way. After Arno the Hypnotist finally shows up and removes Elmer's spell we're given to understand that he'll temper his behavior in the future while still being more assertive. Okay, but this last-minute promise doesn't leave us with much satisfaction, nor does it help that, when last seen, Elmer is once more chasing down Junior to deliver another thrashing.

In 1930 Harry Langdon made a two-reel version of this story called The Shrimp, and although Langdon was more suited to the material the problem with his remake is similar to the problem here: our protagonist swings between two extreme personalities, neither one of which is palatable. Running Wild has its moments, but over all it remains a failed attempt to exploit two facets of Fields' screen persona, the wimp and the blow-hard, without the leavening of his more attractive and endearing traits.

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.

Elmer Finch (W.C.Fields) is a good man, married for the second time and working for twenty years in a company as accountant. However, he is not respected by his wife and his stepson and even by his dog. In his work, his boss and colleagues spend an abusive treatment, and clients do not respect him either. His life changes when he is accidentally hypnotized and transformed in a lion, changing his attitude.

"Running Wild" is an excellent comedy, with a great screenplay and performances. The beginning is very dramatic for a comedy, but when Elmer is hypnotized, becomes very funny. The dog is cute and responsible for most of the best sequences, and his mean stepson Junior (Barnett Raskin) is amazingly funny and irritant. The DVD presents in the Extras the "famous sentences" of W.C. Fields, and they are also very ironical and funny. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Selvagem" ("The Savage")

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.