W.C. Fields as usual cannot do anything right, and when he comes home from an alleged late night at work (drunk, of course!), his wife gives him the second degree and he gets into a fight with the curtain strings which act like a noose as he tries to stagger off to bed. The townspeople all begin to gossip when he is spotted on the train with a glamorous princess (Adrienne Ames) they all assume is a floozy. Gossip gets out of hand and they have her being every sort of woman in every sort of business (show and otherwise) than what she really is. The princess hits it off with Fields and encourages him to try and make the best of things with his wife. So when one man suggests a bird, what kind of bird does he get? Well, this one wouldn't fit in any tweety bird cage, and the results are hysterical, especially when Ames shows up to put the entire town in its place.
Fields does pratfalls like a ballet dancer does the minuet, and when he goes down the street with the bird he chooses for wife Louise Carter, it is as far from "Swan Lake" as you can get. The romantic subplot concerns daughter Joan Marsh and wealthy Buster Crabbe, the son of the town's snootiest matron (Kathleen Howard who would later play Fields' wife in "The Man on the Flying Trapeze"). Here, the romantic plot isn't intrusive and actually helps extend the plot and create more amusement. Carter's wife, too, isn't the typical Fields nag; She's actually a bit more feminine and all she seems to want is affection from him every now and then, so in that case, she's actually quite likable. But when society starts their gossip, she's bound to not believe her husband and that creates more complications. What results is an extremely amusing film that will have you cheering for the underdog and hissing at the high and mighty.
Fields does pratfalls like a ballet dancer does the minuet, and when he goes down the street with the bird he chooses for wife Louise Carter, it is as far from "Swan Lake" as you can get. The romantic subplot concerns daughter Joan Marsh and wealthy Buster Crabbe, the son of the town's snootiest matron (Kathleen Howard who would later play Fields' wife in "The Man on the Flying Trapeze"). Here, the romantic plot isn't intrusive and actually helps extend the plot and create more amusement. Carter's wife, too, isn't the typical Fields nag; She's actually a bit more feminine and all she seems to want is affection from him every now and then, so in that case, she's actually quite likable. But when society starts their gossip, she's bound to not believe her husband and that creates more complications. What results is an extremely amusing film that will have you cheering for the underdog and hissing at the high and mighty.