Man on the Flying Trapeze
| Man on the Flying Trapeze | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Clyde Bruckman W. C. Fields (uncredited) |
| Produced by | William LeBaron |
| Written by | W. C. Fields (story, as "Charles Bogle") Sam Hardy (story) Ray Harris Jack Cunningham (uncredited) John Sinclair (uncredited) Bobby Vernon (uncredited) |
| Starring | W. C. Fields Mary Brian Kathleen Howard |
| Release date(s) | August 3, 1935 |
| Running time | 65 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Man on the Flying Trapeze is a 1935 comedy film starring W. C. Fields as a henpecked husband. As with his other roles of this nature, Fields is put-upon throughout the film, but triumphs in the end.
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[edit] Plot
Ambrose Wolfinger works as a "memory expert" for a manufacturing company's president; he keeps files of details about all the people President Malloy meets with, so that Malloy will never be embarrassed about not remembering things when meeting with them. Ambrose supports himself, his shrewish wife Leona, his loving daughter Hope (from a previous marriage), his freeloading brother-in-law Claude, and his abusive mother-in-law Cordelia.
At the start of the film, two burglars break into Ambrose's cellar late at night, get drunk on his homemade cider, and start singing; Ambrose is forced to handle the situation, and he winds up being arrested for making cider without a license.
The next day, Ambrose (falsely) tells Malloy that Cordelia had died from drinking poisoned liquor, and asks for the afternoon off to attend the funeral; in fact, he wants to go to see the big wrestling match. Malloy, touched by Ambrose's tale, lets him go for the day, and Ambrose's immediate supervisor, Mr. Peabody, tells all the other employees the tragic news so they can pay their respects to the family.
Throughout that day, Ambrose has one problem after another: He has encounters with ticket-writing policemen and cars that are parked too close to his; he finds himself chasing a tire along railroad tracks and narrowly avoids getting hit by trains; and while trying to get into the wrestling arena (Claude had stolen his ticket earlier), he gets knocked down by a wrestler who is thrown out of the building by his opponent.
Later that day, Ambrose comes home to find that Cordelia and Leona are furious about seeing Cordelia's obituary in the newspaper and receiving a huge amount of flowers, sympathy cards, and funeral wreaths. Furthermore, Peabody calls to say that Ambrose is fired because of his deception. Ambrose, who has been meek and mild through the entire film, finally has had enough, and in a rare moment of overt violence for Fields' characters, punches out Claude and frightens his wife and mother-in-law into hiding. The angry Ambrose wants to beat them up too ("I'll knock 'em for a row of lib-labs"), but soon he and his daughter leave the house to go live elsewhere.
Later, Malloy demands that Peabody rehire Ambrose because no one else can figure out Wolfinger's filing system; Hope answers the telephone, and says (falsely) that Ambrose has a better offer from another company. After some bargaining, Ambrose is rehired with a huge raise in pay and four weeks' vacation. Meanwhile, Leona realizes that she still loves Ambrose, scolds Claude for his laziness, and stands up to her disagreeable mother.
The film ends with Ambrose taking the family for a ride in his new car. Hope and Leona ride inside the car with him, while Claude and Cordelia ride in the rumble seat ... during a heavy rain.
[edit] Cast
- W. C. Fields as Ambrose Wolfinger
- Mary Brian as Hope Wolfinger
- Kathleen Howard as Leona Wolfinger
- Grady Sutton as Claude Neselrode
- Vera Lewis as Mrs. Cordelia Neselrode
- Lucien Littlefield as Mr. Peabody
- Oscar Apfel as President Malloy
- Lew Kelly as Adolph Berg
- Tammany Young as 'Willie' the Weasel
- Walter Brennan as 'Legs' Garnett
- Arthur Aylesworth as Night Court Judge
- Tor Johnson as Tosoff
- Carlotta Monti as "Ambrose's Secretary"[1]
- And Patrick H. O'Malley, Jr., James Flavin, Eddy Chandler, Edward Gargan, James Burke, Sam Lufkin, Billy Bletcher, George B. French, Rosemary Theby[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Monti had been Fields' girlfriend/companion since 1932. The credits do not assign a name to her, but on-screen Fields called her "Carlotta" in any early scene.
- ^ Deschner, Donald (1966). The Films of W.C. Fields. New York: Cadillac Publishing by arrangement with The Citadel Press. p. 117. Introduction by Arthur Knight
