The Bank Dick

1940 "Was His Face Red . . . And His Nose, Too ! when the bandits took the money . . . and the SAFE !"
7.1| 1h12m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 29 November 1940 Released
Producted By: Universal Pictures
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Egbert Sousé becomes an unexpected hero when a bank robber falls over a bench he's occupying. Now considered brave, Egbert is given a job as a bank guard. Soon, he is approached by charlatan J. Frothingham Waterbury about buying shares in a mining company. Egbert persuades teller Og Oggilby to lend him bank money, to be returned when the scheme pays off. Unfortunately, bank inspector Snoopington then makes a surprise appearance.

Genre

Comedy

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Director

Edward F. Cline

Production Companies

Universal Pictures

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The Bank Dick Audience Reviews

ThiefHott Too much of everything
BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life
Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Smoreni Zmaj Every year, United States National Film Preservation Board selects up to 25 films of cultural, historical and aesthetic significance, which will be preserved by being included in the National Film Registry. This one was chosen in 1992 and it's considered to be one of the best comedies ever. I really have to ask - why? Although it lasts just a bit over an hour it successfully bored me so much that I fell asleep sitting at the table. In my opinion, the only thing worth seeing in this movie is hilarious, and for its time excellently shot, car chase scene. I do not recommend.5/10
Kirpianuscus it has the "sin" to be so different by yours expectation form a film from 1940. many motives. but, basic one - the humor , who seems be present only in our social contexts, the references to every day problems. and, sure, the crazy performance of Fields, who seems be out of limits. each of this motifs does it a lovely, provocative show.and wise war against stereotypes.
Hitchcoc W. C. Fields dominates this film. For such a basically rotten guy, we still sympathize with him because he is the head of a dysfunctional, mean spirited family. Of course, he's no gem himself, smoking, drinking, carrying on in front of young women. His daughter wants to marry a guy named Og Ogilby (Fields was a master at creating the most ridiculous names for his characters). The boy has little to offer, working in a bank for very little. The story evolves around a bank robbery where Fields (whose name is Souse with the "e" pronounced so he doesn't have the name of a perennial drunk). Fields accidentally apprehends some bank robbers and is rewarded with a job as a band guard. He talks Og into embezzling money and investing it in a gold mine so he can be rich enough to marry his daughter. Things take many turns. The important thing is Fields is on the screen continuously, not having to share time with other stars. Will he land on his feet?
mark.waltz Mass hysteria ensues when ne'er-do-well husband and father Egbert Souse' (W.C. Fields) is given a job as a security guard at a bank after supposedly catching a bank robber. Abused by his wife (Cora Witherspoon), younger daughter (Evelyn Del Rio) and nasty mother-in-law (Jessie Ralph), Fields spends most of his free time (which is a lot) at Shemp Howard's bar, "The Black Pussycat" than he does looking for a job or doing chores for his ungrateful family. In fact, only his lovely older daughter (Una Merkel) seems to genuinely love him. Engaged to bank clerk Grady Sutton, Merkel has no idea that thanks to a bogus stock tip, Sutton is guilty of embezzlement with daddy Field's help. Enter J. Pinkerton Snoopington (Franklin Pangborn), the officious bank examiner whom Fields must stall from examining the bank books for four days until Sutton gets his bonus check. Pangborn, usually typecast as a nervous nancy, greatly underplays his character, allowing Fields to get him rip-roaringly drunk and ending up with a hangover to end all hangovers. By making his character quietly dignified without hysterica, Pangborn becomes the perfect "straight man" (!) surrounding the ensemble of wackos which populate this small California town.Fields is hysterically excellent as the harried "everyman", far from perfect, yet able to steal every moment on screen with his endless treasure trove of tricks. Whether it be misplacing his hat (in eye view of the audience, yet not to Egbert) or accidentally donning a featured pen, Fields surrounds himself with some hysterically named characters. My personal favorite: A. Pismo Clam! Some might find the lack of likable female characters (with the exception of Merkel) to be in bad taste, but it suits the plot. The result is a hodge-podge of comedy that ranks with the best farces of all time. This certainly is worth a nose full of nickles!