Six of a Kind (1934)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Leo McCarey

Writers:

Keene Thompson (story) and
Douglas MacLean (story) ...

Release Date:

7 February 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

When a respectable middle-class couple take a cross-country trip by auto, they share expenses with a decidedly oddball couple, none of whom know the car carries embezzled funds.

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Cross Country | Nevada | Alcoholic | Billiards

Cast

Charles Ruggles	...	J. Pinkham 'Pinky' Whinney (as Charlie Ruggles)
Mary Boland	...	Flora Whinney
W.C. Fields	...	Nuggetville Sheriff 'Honest John' Hoxley
George Burns	...	George Edwards
Gracie Allen	...	Gracie De Vore
Alison Skipworth	...	Mrs. K. Rumford
Bradley Page	...	Ferguson, aka Poogie
Grace Bradley	...	Goldie
William J. Kelly	...	A.B. Gillette (president, 2nd National Bank of Springfield)

Runtime:

65 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Paramount Ranch - 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Quotes:

J. Pinkham 'Pinky' Whinney: Can you take care of us?
Hotel desk clerk: Oh, yes, I can give you a room and a hot bath now.
J. Pinkham 'Pinky' Whinney: You give me the room. I'll take the bath myself.

Movie Connections:

References The Old Fashioned Way (1934)

Six Times The Fun

Three zany couples, all SIX OF A KIND, become entangled in a madcap search for stolen bank loot.

This is a lively, hilarious comedy, with the six stars - Charlie Ruggles & Mary Boland, W. C. Fields & Alison Skipworth, George Burns & Gracie Allen - all heartily engaged in doing what they did best: getting laughs.

Ruggles & Boland make another of their film appearances as husband & wife - this time rather more amorous than usual. They were a perfect team - she the strident lioness, he the nervous rabbit - and they dominate most of the screen time here. From beginning to end, they are a delight.

Burns & Allen continue the patter they originated in Vaudeville, perfected on radio & would eventually take to television, with George the perpetual straight man & Gracie the eternal fool. At times in the film she tends to go a bit over the top, but it's difficult to dislike her. Her heart was obviously made of solid gold.

While Skipworth is given rather short shrift - only fragments of her formidable personality flash through - Fields is in his element as the disreputable sheriff of Nuggetville, Nevada. Whether explaining how he got the nickname ‘Honest John' or skulking about at night looking for the missing moola, he is never less than wonderful. Best of all, he gets to perform his entire classic pool routine, preserving it forever for a grateful posterity. Finally, he executes the near miraculous - he gets Gracie to shut up.

Paramount was so pleased with the success of SIX OF A KIND that they wanted to hurry the principle players into another comedy. Only Fields demurred. He felt he had now arrived at the point where he no longer needed to share a movie with other celebrity comics. The Studio finally agreed and began preparation of Fields' first solo starring feature, YOU'RE TELLING ME (1934).