This W.C. Fields vehicle is more disciplined than NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK (1941) but it's still, basically, a series of extended sketches (though, thankfully, there's no intrusive romantic subplot or musical interludes). Typically, the title has no meaning specific to the film to which it's attached and characters are given deliberately strange names (once again, Fields supplied the story himself under the alias Charles Bogle)! Also, as often happened with comics (notably Laurel & Hardy), plot lines of vehicles from the Silent days were reprised during the Talkie period - this particular film being a reworking of Fields' RUNNING WILD (1927).
The star is here a henpecked husband (at his best when lethargically responding to his wife's agitated statement that their cellar has been broken into), a role he often played - such as in IT'S A GIFT (1934) and THE BANK DICK (1940) from the first Universal set - with a devoted daughter from a previous marriage who are resented by their new family (including Fields regulars Kathleen Howard and Grady Sutton). However, he's retained by the business firm he works for due to his remarkable memory (the film, in fact, was released in the U.K. as THE MEMORY EXPERT).
The very first shot - an empty but unmade bed - is a classic, as one already knows that Fields is somewhere in the house drinking behind his wife's back. Perhaps my favorite gag involves Fields' painful scream, which happens twice during the course of the film - first, when he falls down the stairs of his own cellar and ends up sitting on a piece of wood with a nail sticking out of it and, again later, when he brags about his wrestling prowess but is promptly thrown over his opponent's shoulder when put to the test! There are, however, several other memorable sequences: the opening applejack incident in which two burglars (one of whom is Walter Brennan) get drunk on Fields' liquor, burst out into a sentimental song, and are eventually joined by a cop and the star himself (when they appear before a magistrate, it's Fields who gets thrown in jail for not possessing a license to make his own beverage!); the dinner-table scene where he drowns his wife's talking by noisily munching on a piece of toast; Fields' unique system of filing at his office; his receiving several parking-tickets in a row; the star chasing after the tyre of his car which came loose and almost getting crushed by a speeding train in the process; the all-important wrestling match (to which he sneaks off from work after lying to his boss that his mother-in-law had died - because of this, his house is soon flooded with bouquets of flowers sent in sympathy by his colleagues!) which he misses due to the mishaps described above...although, he does arrive in time to be hit with the flying body of one of the fighters!
Like most Fields comedies, the film is consistently funny - with the only flaw being the occasional sag in pacing. Curiously enough, I unintentionally watched the only two Fields vehicles in which his mistress Carlotta Monti appears in quick succession! Incidentally, MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE proved to be the last film to be credited to Silent comedy expert Clyde Bruckman; actually, his chronic alcoholism meant that he wasn't fit to perform his duties during much of the shooting - and, for the first and only time in his career, Fields eventually took over the directorial reins himself!
The star is here a henpecked husband (at his best when lethargically responding to his wife's agitated statement that their cellar has been broken into), a role he often played - such as in IT'S A GIFT (1934) and THE BANK DICK (1940) from the first Universal set - with a devoted daughter from a previous marriage who are resented by their new family (including Fields regulars Kathleen Howard and Grady Sutton). However, he's retained by the business firm he works for due to his remarkable memory (the film, in fact, was released in the U.K. as THE MEMORY EXPERT).
The very first shot - an empty but unmade bed - is a classic, as one already knows that Fields is somewhere in the house drinking behind his wife's back. Perhaps my favorite gag involves Fields' painful scream, which happens twice during the course of the film - first, when he falls down the stairs of his own cellar and ends up sitting on a piece of wood with a nail sticking out of it and, again later, when he brags about his wrestling prowess but is promptly thrown over his opponent's shoulder when put to the test! There are, however, several other memorable sequences: the opening applejack incident in which two burglars (one of whom is Walter Brennan) get drunk on Fields' liquor, burst out into a sentimental song, and are eventually joined by a cop and the star himself (when they appear before a magistrate, it's Fields who gets thrown in jail for not possessing a license to make his own beverage!); the dinner-table scene where he drowns his wife's talking by noisily munching on a piece of toast; Fields' unique system of filing at his office; his receiving several parking-tickets in a row; the star chasing after the tyre of his car which came loose and almost getting crushed by a speeding train in the process; the all-important wrestling match (to which he sneaks off from work after lying to his boss that his mother-in-law had died - because of this, his house is soon flooded with bouquets of flowers sent in sympathy by his colleagues!) which he misses due to the mishaps described above...although, he does arrive in time to be hit with the flying body of one of the fighters!
Like most Fields comedies, the film is consistently funny - with the only flaw being the occasional sag in pacing. Curiously enough, I unintentionally watched the only two Fields vehicles in which his mistress Carlotta Monti appears in quick succession! Incidentally, MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE proved to be the last film to be credited to Silent comedy expert Clyde Bruckman; actually, his chronic alcoholism meant that he wasn't fit to perform his duties during much of the shooting - and, for the first and only time in his career, Fields eventually took over the directorial reins himself!