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Poker party

Original title: Six of a Kind
  • 1934
  • Approved
  • 1h 2m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
772
YOUR RATING
W.C. Fields, Gracie Allen, Mary Boland, George Burns, Charles Ruggles, and Alison Skipworth in Poker party (1934)
FarceSlapstickComedy

When a respectable middle-class couple take a cross-country trip by auto, they share expenses with a decidedly oddball couple, none of whom know the car carries embezzled funds.When a respectable middle-class couple take a cross-country trip by auto, they share expenses with a decidedly oddball couple, none of whom know the car carries embezzled funds.When a respectable middle-class couple take a cross-country trip by auto, they share expenses with a decidedly oddball couple, none of whom know the car carries embezzled funds.

  • Director
    • Leo McCarey
  • Writers
    • Keene Thompson
    • Douglas MacLean
    • Walter DeLeon
  • Stars
    • Charles Ruggles
    • Mary Boland
    • W.C. Fields
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.7/10
    772
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Leo McCarey
    • Writers
      • Keene Thompson
      • Douglas MacLean
      • Walter DeLeon
    • Stars
      • Charles Ruggles
      • Mary Boland
      • W.C. Fields
    • 18User reviews
    • 12Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win total

    Photos19

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    Top cast31

    Edit
    Charles Ruggles
    Charles Ruggles
    • J. Pinkham Whinney
    • (as Charlie Ruggles)
    Mary Boland
    Mary Boland
    • Flora Whinney
    W.C. Fields
    W.C. Fields
    • Sheriff John Hoxley
    George Burns
    George Burns
    • George Edward
    Gracie Allen
    Gracie Allen
    • Gracie Devore
    Alison Skipworth
    Alison Skipworth
    • Mrs. K. Rumford
    Bradley Page
    Bradley Page
    • Ferguson
    Grace Bradley
    Grace Bradley
    • Goldie
    William J. Kelly
    William J. Kelly
    • Gillette
    Phil Tead
    Phil Tead
    • Clerk in Newspaper Office
    William Augustin
    William Augustin
    • Traffic Cop
    • (uncredited)
    Irving Bacon
    Irving Bacon
    • Hotel Desk Clerk in Philipsburg
    • (uncredited)
    Harry Bernard
    Harry Bernard
    • Eyeshade Man
    • (uncredited)
    James Burke
    James Burke
    • Detective
    • (uncredited)
    Kathleen Burke
    Kathleen Burke
    • Woman
    • (uncredited)
    Neal Burns
    Neal Burns
    • Gillette's Secretary
    • (uncredited)
    Phil Dunham
    Phil Dunham
    • Drunk
    • (uncredited)
    Florence Enright
    • Tourist's Wife
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Leo McCarey
    • Writers
      • Keene Thompson
      • Douglas MacLean
      • Walter DeLeon
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews18

    6.7772
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    Featured reviews

    10Ron Oliver

    Six Times The Fun

    Three zany couples, all SIX OF A KIND, become entangled in a madcap search for stolen bank loot.

    This is a lively, hilarious comedy, with the six stars - Charlie Ruggles & Mary Boland, W. C. Fields & Alison Skipworth, George Burns & Gracie Allen - all heartily engaged in doing what they did best: getting laughs.

    Ruggles & Boland make another of their film appearances as husband & wife - this time rather more amorous than usual. They were a perfect team - she the strident lioness, he the nervous rabbit - and they dominate most of the screen time here. From beginning to end, they are a delight.

    Burns & Allen continue the patter they originated in Vaudeville, perfected on radio & would eventually take to television, with George the perpetual straight man & Gracie the eternal fool. At times in the film she tends to go a bit over the top, but it's difficult to dislike her. Her heart was obviously made of solid gold.

    While Skipworth is given rather short shrift - only fragments of her formidable personality flash through - Fields is in his element as the disreputable sheriff of Nuggetville, Nevada. Whether explaining how he got the nickname ‘Honest John' or skulking about at night looking for the missing moola, he is never less than wonderful. Best of all, he gets to perform his entire classic pool routine, preserving it forever for a grateful posterity. Finally, he executes the near miraculous - he gets Gracie to shut up.

    Paramount was so pleased with the success of SIX OF A KIND that they wanted to hurry the principle players into another comedy. Only Fields demurred. He felt he had now arrived at the point where he no longer needed to share a movie with other celebrity comics. The Studio finally agreed and began preparation of Fields' first solo starring feature, YOU'RE TELLING ME (1934).
    derek-53

    W.C. Fields at his finest (for about five minutes)

    The plot's pretty lame, George and Gracie are okay (a few shining moments, but nothing spectacular), and the jokes aren't all that outstanding, but there is a five minute sequence with W.C. Fields attempting to shoot pool that is one of the funniest five minutes ever put to celluloid. I howled at this scene as I have rarely howled at anything in my life. The entire movie is worth a watch for this scene alone.
    6Holdjerhorses

    Enjoyable anachronism . . . with one classic sequence

    Comedy can date more rapidly than drama, generally. Certainly, the comedy of Burns and Allen (while still unique) is of its era. In fact, they perfected their act in their 50s TV series -- which is still delightful if you can find it.

    But the value of "Six of a Kind" is more an artifact of particular players forever captured on film. Mary Boland is always excellent and she's wonderful here (but at her best a few years later in "The Women"). Charlie Ruggles essentially played the same role all his career and nobody plays Charlie Ruggles better. Alison Skipworth is barely utilized at all, here.

    It's the preservation of W.C. Fields' immortal "Honest John" routine from vaudeville that earns "Six of a Kind" its place in film history. It's difficult to imagine how this routine worked from the distance of a stage. But on film it's a miracle of comic construction, timing, delivery and skill (yes he actually ricochets that billiard ball off the far end of the table where it bounces back and hits his forehead). The routine is hypnotic and hysterical, and perfectly pitched for film.
    9bkoganbing

    Six cylinder comedy running on laughing gas

    That was one of the lines in a trailer about this film and for once the publicists did not exaggerate. All six of the featured players here are on the screen 99% of the time, so they have to be good.

    It's always fascinating how certain plot premises can be worked for either highballing comedy to a deadly serious situation. Mary Boland of the ditzy and Charlie Ruggles of the henpecked play their usual characters who are planning to motor all the way to California. To share expenses they advertise for someone to share the ride. They get Burns and Allen and a monster of a dog. That same premise was a deadly serious one several generations later in Kalifornia.

    Of course if you're traveling with Gracie Allen you know you're going to be going absolutely nuts trying to figure her Monty Pythonesque reasoning about the whole world. And if that ain't enough you get to run into W.C. Fields, part time sheriff and full time pool hustler who's living in sin with Alison Skipworth. But back then we didn't delve into such things.

    A real classic comedy from the thirties, not to be missed.
    Michael_Elliott

    Nice Comedy

    Six of a Kind (1934)

    *** (out of 4)

    A couple (Charles Ruggles, Mary Boland) are about to go on their second honeymoon when the wife gets the bright idea to save some money by placing an ad in the paper hoping to get another couple to go along and share expenses. A couple (George Burns, Gracie Allen) agrees to go but it's just one disaster after another especially when they get to a small town with a mixed up sheriff (W.C. Fields). Considering the cast you'd think this Leo McCarey comedy would be much better known but it's pretty much been forgotten over time. While it's far from a classic comedy there are enough good moments to make it worth sitting through and especially with a 62-minute running time. The biggest thing going against the movie is its screenplay, which really isn't all that good. At just 62-minutes it seems as if the movie is broken down into six, ten-minute vignettes and it really gives the movie a somewhat uneven film. With that said, enough of those vignettes work thanks in large part to the cast. Ruggles and Boland are very good together and share some great comic timing and especially in some early scenes dealing with how much she paid for the ad. Burns and Allen really don't get too much to work with as the screenplay pretty much keeps him in the background while she gets to play dumb. Even Fields role isn't the greatest but the comic legend does what he can with it. The real star of the film goes to the wonderful dog who is downright hilarious during his scenes and especially the ones where he's pushing Ruggles around.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      W.C. Fields refers to a woman named McGonigle. He took that name for his character in The Old Fashioned Way (1934). The actor had also used the name McGargle in Sally of the Sawdust (1925) and its remake, Poppy (1936).
    • Goofs
      George Burns' character Name is shown onscreen as "George Edward", but "Edwards" is consistently spoken as his surname.
    • Quotes

      Gracie De Vore: Oh, what's that?

      George Edwards: You wouldn't understand. This is a map.

      Gracie De Vore: Oh, sure, I know what a map is. It's what you take every afternoon when you're tired. I always take an afternoon map.

      George Edwards: An afternoon map?

      Gracie De Vore: Sure.

      George Edwards: I bet when you went to school, you never even reached the fifth grade.

      Gracie De Vore: Aw, don't be silly. I spent three of the happiest years of my life in the fifth grade.

    • Connections
      Featured in L'univers du rire (1982)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 9, 1934 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Six of a Kind
    • Filming locations
      • Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Paramount Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 2m(62 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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