"Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (Universal) is not a movie; it is 70 minutes of photographed vaudeville by polypnosed W. C. Fields...as such, it is strong drink for cinemaddicts who believe that the Great Man can do no wrong, small beer for those who think that even a Fields picture should have a modicum of direction." - James Agee
I disagree with Agee on the point that the film was poorly directed. If anything, it has one of the tightest narratives I've seen yet in a Fields film. This is due in large part to the framing device of Fields playing himself as he pitches story ideas to a movie studio executive. Respectable schtick—including a hilarious sequence involving the same studio head getting harried by a rowdy production crew while working with a young actress—dominates the first 20 or so minutes. But after that it's off to the races as the film illustrates Fields' bizarre, absurd flights of fancy. This may be my favorite Fields film, even more so than The Bank Dick (1940), simply because it made me laugh more than any of his other work.
8/10
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