You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man 04/12/22
KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray
W.C. Fields’ Larson E. Whipsnade, bogus Barnum imitator, is everything in this tale of fatherly malice love. Whipsnade dodges the lawmen and cheats everybody to benefit his Circus Giganticus; his college-girl daughter loves ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (or does she secretly dig Charlie McCarthy?). It’s carny nonsense all the way, dated race humor, brilliant insult jokes and all: “You can’t cheat an honest man; never give a sucker an even break, or smarten up a chump.” Michael Schlesinger’s audio commentary wises up us chumps; CineSavant reviewer Charlie Largent is back in action, and cheats nobody! On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
04/12/22