You're Telling Me! (1934)

Director:

Erle C. Kenton

Writers:

Walter DeLeon (writer)
Paul M. Jones (writer)

Release Date:

5 April 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A hard-drinking, socially-awkward inventor wrecks his daughter's chances of marriage into a rich family and bungles his own chances of success by selling one of his more practical inventions.

Plot Keywords:

Village Gossip | Iodine | Optician | Ostrich | Suicide

Cast

W.C. Fields	...	Sam Bisbee, Optometrist
Joan Marsh	...	Pauline Bisbee
Buster Crabbe	...	Bob Murchison (as Larry 'Buster' Crabbe)
Adrienne Ames	...	Princess Lescaboura
Louise Carter	...	Mrs. Bessie Bisbee
Kathleen Howard	...	Mrs. Edward Quimby Murchison
Tammany Young	...	Caddy
Dell Henderson	...	Crystal Springs Mayor Brown (as Del Henderson)
James B. 'Pop' Kenton	...	Doc Beebe
Robert McKenzie	...	Charlie Bogle
Nora Cecil	...	Mrs. Price
George Irving	...	Mr. Robbins - President of National Tire Co.

Runtime:

64 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The film's climactic golf skit is taken right from Fields' vintage stage routine and his first sound short, The Golf Specialist (1930).

Quotes:

Sam Bisbee: [on his golf clubs] I bought a wonderful club in Toronto.
Princess Lescaboura: Did you?
Sam Bisbee: Yeah.
[to his caddy]
Sam Bisbee: Give me the Canadian Club.

Movie Connections:

References The Sheik (1921)

You're Telling Me! is one of W.C. Fields' early classic comedies

W.C. Fields was one comedian from the movies' golden age that took me a while to like as a kid. The first time I remember laughing at him was when, in Fatal Glass of Beer, he keeps looking at the open window and saying, "And it ain't a fit night out for man nor beast!" after which snow would hit him in the face! You're Telling Me! has plenty of funny visual and verbal gems that keep the movie breezing along for little more than an hour. Among the highlights are the beginning when Mr. Fields, coming home drunk, encounters a curtain constantly along with his angry wife who keeps telling him to take off his hat and put down his shoes, his talking a princess on a train out of "suicide" after failing to attempt one himself (because of constant interruptions), his struggles with an ostrich he buys for his wife, and his golf game at the end that also gets delayed with various distractions especially from the caddy (Fields also did this routine on his talkie debut, The Golf Specialist). You're Telling Me! is one of Fields' classics that should be essential viewing for anyone wanting to be introduced to his work.