The first time I watched W. C. Fields opposite Alison Skipworth was in a segment from the anthology film IF I HAD A MILLION. Skipworth's character receives an unexpected windfall and buys an expensive automobile. She cruises around town with her new gas guzzler but ends up in a crash. Fields helps her get revenge on the inconsiderate road hog who caused the accident. While they're at it, they make it their mission to teach all road hogs a lesson!
Their work in that sequence is the best thing about the picture. Paramount execs also thought so, and the studio teamed them up again in a series of rip-roaring comedies. Paramount also hit pay dirt having Fields share scenes with infant star Baby LeRoy. And so TILLIE AND GUS has the genius funnyman creating mayhem with both Skipworth and LeRoy.
Some have written that this was the studio's spoof of MGM's TUGBOAT ANNIE. I'm not quite sure I agree, since the leads in this production do not resemble Marie Dressler or Wallace Beery at all. Miss Skipworth is too refined to ever be confused as a stand-in for Dressler. And Mr. Fields' handling of props far exceeds anything Beery ever did.
Yes, there's a river barge in both films, but that's where the similarities begin and end. What I love most about this picture, and all pictures where W. C. Fields is left to his own devices, is that the plot is secondary. It's really just an excuse to string together a series of routines that Fields had developed in vaudeville and perfected for the cinema. We are willing to leave the story and concentrate on his gags, as well as Skipworth's priceless reactions.
When we do return to the story, there are some nice moments between our older leads and the younger cast. As in IT'S A GIFT and THE OLD FASHIONED WAY, there is a family feel to the proceedings.
The antics climax with a boat race that occurs on a national holiday. Mishaps increase and situations become so brazenly exaggerated that the only solution is total chaos. Despite the mass destruction, the main characters somehow miraculously survive. If they didn't, then there'd be no real reason to expect Fields could appear on screen again and generate more mischief in his next adventure.
Their work in that sequence is the best thing about the picture. Paramount execs also thought so, and the studio teamed them up again in a series of rip-roaring comedies. Paramount also hit pay dirt having Fields share scenes with infant star Baby LeRoy. And so TILLIE AND GUS has the genius funnyman creating mayhem with both Skipworth and LeRoy.
Some have written that this was the studio's spoof of MGM's TUGBOAT ANNIE. I'm not quite sure I agree, since the leads in this production do not resemble Marie Dressler or Wallace Beery at all. Miss Skipworth is too refined to ever be confused as a stand-in for Dressler. And Mr. Fields' handling of props far exceeds anything Beery ever did.
Yes, there's a river barge in both films, but that's where the similarities begin and end. What I love most about this picture, and all pictures where W. C. Fields is left to his own devices, is that the plot is secondary. It's really just an excuse to string together a series of routines that Fields had developed in vaudeville and perfected for the cinema. We are willing to leave the story and concentrate on his gags, as well as Skipworth's priceless reactions.
When we do return to the story, there are some nice moments between our older leads and the younger cast. As in IT'S A GIFT and THE OLD FASHIONED WAY, there is a family feel to the proceedings.
The antics climax with a boat race that occurs on a national holiday. Mishaps increase and situations become so brazenly exaggerated that the only solution is total chaos. Despite the mass destruction, the main characters somehow miraculously survive. If they didn't, then there'd be no real reason to expect Fields could appear on screen again and generate more mischief in his next adventure.