You're Telling Me!

Director: Erle C. Kenton Erle C. Kenton

Overview

In this film, W.C. Fields plays Sam Bisbee, an erstwhile inventor who is the laughingstock of his small town. Returning in defeat from a disastrous big-city demonstration of his latest invention, Sam makes the acquaintance of a beautiful young woman, who happens to be an incognito foreign princess.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/01/2019
UPC:	0191329030493
Original Release:	1934
Rating:	NR
Source:	Universal
Language:	English
Time:	1:07:00
Sales rank:	65,990

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

W.C. Fields	Sam Bisbee
Joan Marsh	Pauline Bisbee
Larry "Buster" Crabbe	Bob Murchison
Adrienne Ames	H.R.H. Princess Lescaboura
Louise Carter	Mrs. Bessie Bisbee
Kathleen Howard	Mrs. Murchison
James B. 'Pop' Kenton	Doc Beebe
Bob McKenzie	Charlie Bogle
George Irving	President of the Tire Company
Jerry Stewart	Frobisher
Dell Henderson	Mayer Brown
Nora Cecil	Mrs. Price
George MacQuarrie	Crabbe
John Maurice Sullivan	Gray,Mr. Murchison
Vernon Dent	Fat Man in Train
Tammany Young	Caddy
Billy Engle	Actor
Lee Phelps	1st Cop
Albert Hart	Lounger
Dorothy Bay	Mrs. Kendall
Edward Le Saint	Conductor
Elise Cavanna	Mrs. Smith
Eddie Baker	Motorcycle Police Escort
James C. Morton	George Smith
Alfred Delcambre	Phil Cummings
William Robyns	Postman
George Ovey	Actor
Harold Berquist	Doorman
Frank O'Connor	Cop
Florence Enright	Mrs. Kelly
Isabelle La Mal	Rosita
Hal Craig	Motor Cop
Josephine Whittell	Bit
Arthur Johnson	Composer

Technical Credits

Erle C. Kenton	Director
William Le Baron	Producer

Editorial Reviews

One of W.C. Fields' best features, You're Telling Me is a comic gem from one of the screen's finest comic performers. It's to be expected that a Fields flick will be funny -- or at the very least that Fields himself will be funny. What's surprising and rewarding about Telling is that it provides the cynical master with one of his most likeable roles. Don't worry -- he's still an oily curmudgeon who's never met a person about whom he can't find something to insult. But there's a slightly softer side to Fields here, both in his dealings with and feelings for his daughter and in the manner in which he "rescues" the Princess from what he misinterprets as a suicidal impulse. This latter scene is especially rewarding; it's still amusing, but there's a vulnerability and tenderness underneath Fields that is not often given this much rein. Like many Fields vehicles, this one is more a series of gags and routines tied around a more or less loose plot; but the vignettes are choice, including a version of his celebrated golf routine, as well as an ostrich sequence that is first class. Fields alone is more than enough reason to watch Telling, but there's also fine support from Adrienne Ames, Kathleen Howard, and Louise Carter, among others, that more than makes up from the rather perfunctory performances of Joan Marsh and Larry "Buster" Crabbe. Thought lost for many years, You're Telling Me's rediscovery in the 1970s gave quite a boost to Fields aficionados hungry for something "new."