Topic: W.C Fields' IT'S A GIFT Headed to National Film Registry

[falsealarms]

The National Film Registry announced its 2010 additions today. The classic W.C Fields entry IT'S A GIFT is among them -- an honor well deserved and overdue. That film is brilliant and arguably the best film Fields did.

See the announcement here: http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/10-273.html

It’s a Gift (1934)
The popularity and influence of W.C. Fields continues with each succeeding generation, distinguishing him as one of the greatest American comedians of the 20th century. "It’s a Gift" has survived a perilous preservation history and is the third Fields film to be named to the National Film Registry. The film’s extended comic sequence featuring Baby LeRoy, and depicting Fields’ travails while trying to sleep on the open-air back porch of a rooming house, was adapted from one of his most successful live theatrical sketches.

[youtube=425,350]41SFTn9xHus[/youtube]

[metaldams]

You mean it isn't already?  Better late than never, great film.

[falsealarms]

Nope, not until now. He had two others in there, THE BANK DICK and SO'S YOUR OLD MAN.

[tapeworm]

I hope "Man on the Flying Trapeze" gets some TLC too. His best film in my opinion.

I've read that W.C. and Curly were inspirations for certain Warner Bros. cartoon characters. I can't bring to mind which ones.

[falsealarms]

Vote for films for next year's Registry... http://www.loc.gov/film/vote.html

NOTE: "... the number of public votes a film receives is a factor seriously weighed during the selection process by the Librarian of Congress and members of the National Film Preservation Board."