You're Telling Me! (1934)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Erle C. Kenton

Writers:

Walter DeLeon (writer)
Paul M. Jones (writer)

Release Date:

5 April 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A hard-drinking, socially-awkward inventor wrecks his daughter's chances of marriage into a rich family and bungles his own chances of success by selling one of his more practical inventions.

Plot Keywords:

Tire | Inventor | Invention | Suicide | Millionaire

Cast

W.C. Fields	...	Sam Bisbee, Optometrist
Joan Marsh	...	Pauline Bisbee
Buster Crabbe	...	Bob Murchison (as Larry 'Buster' Crabbe)
Adrienne Ames	...	Princess Marie Lescaboura
Louise Carter	...	Mrs. Bessie Bisbee
Kathleen Howard	...	Mrs. Edward Quimby Murchison
Tammany Young	...	Caddy
Dell Henderson	...	Crystal Springs Mayor Brown (as Del Henderson)
James B. 'Pop' Kenton	...	Doc Beebe
Robert McKenzie	...	Charlie Bogle
Nora Cecil	...	Mrs. Price
George Irving	...	Mr. Robbins - President of National Tire Co.

Runtime:

64 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Although credited as "Bessie", Louise Carter's character is called "Abigail" in the film.

Quotes:

Sam Bisbee: [to Mrs. Bisbee] My little daughter doesn't have to be in a hurry to marry anyone.
[to Pauline]
Sam Bisbee: Pick and choose, dear. Liberty is sweet. Once you're married, it's just like being in jail.

Movie Connections:

References The Golf Specialist (1930)

Soundtrack:

Sympathizin' With Me

Bisbee's Punctured Romance

YOU'RE TELLING ME? (Paramount, 1934), directed by Erle C. Kenton, adapted from the story "Mr. Bisbee's Princess" by Julian Street, stars W.C Fields in his first domestic comedy since his silent comedy days of the late 1920s, reprising the character he originated from SO'S YOUR OLD MAN (Paramount, 1926), but in spite of some script alterations, ranging from the invention of unbreakable glass to punctured proof tires, the basic premise remains the same. As in most comedies displaying Fields a family man, he's a lovable father worshipped by an offspring, in many instances, his daughter, looked upon by his wife as a miserable failure, until success comes his way for his wife to have a new outlook on him, and while she may still appear to have lost her love for him, she hasn't lost her pride by elevating herself to the level of her husband's rewarded success. This formula would be repeated in Fields' latter comedies, including IT'S A GIFT (1934), THE MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE (1935) and THE BANK DICK (1940).

For the basic plot: Samuel Bisbee (WC Fields) lives in a small town of Crystal Springs. He supports his family, consisting of his wife, Abigail, (Louise Carter), formerly Abigail Warren of the acclaimed family of the Warrens of Virginia, and his daughter, Pauline (Joan Marsh). Sam is an optometrist who spends most of his time working on several inventions at the shop, such as a keyhole finder for drunks, and in between his intervals, gets together with the neighboring husbands to enjoy themselves with some liquor. Aside from domestic problems involving Pauline's love for Bob Murchinson (Larry "Buster" Crabbe), the son of Mrs. Edward Quimby Murchinson (Kathleen Howard), a society snob who disapproves of their relationship, especially after meeting with the family and given false hopes after her encounter with the father. When things appear to be reaching an all time low, Bisbee receives a registered letter from the National Tire Company asking for a demonstration of his latest invention, a punctured-proof tire. Things go wrong when his automobile, equipped with the punctured proof tires, is left parked in a nonparking zone and moments later after Bisbee enters the building, to be moved and substituted by a police car, which happens to be the same make and model. Bisbee demonstrates his new invention to Mr. Robbins (George Irving), the president of the tire company, by shooting at the tires, prepared to catch the flying bullets with a baseball glove, only to have the tires go flat one at a time. He is then chased by the police and eludes them. Foiled again, Sam returns home by train. A bit depressed, Bisbee decides to end it all by leaving a suicide note to his wife and swallowing some iodine, but due to constant interruptions, he is unable to do it. Mistaking a compartment for a men's washroom, Bisbee encounters a woman (Adrienne Ames) with a bottle of iodine. Feeling she is about to take her own life, Bisbee tells her his life story and by the time he leaves, feels compelled that he has "saved her life," unaware that she is the famed Princess Lescaboura, traveling incognito. Noticed by a couple of town gossips, rumor spreads about town that Bisbee has been seen having a secret rendezvous on the train with an attractive woman. Feeling Bisbee is in need of some encouragement, the princess decides to come to Crystal Springs, surprising, in fact, shocking its residents that her sole purpose is to visit with her "good friend," Samuel Bisbee, who had "saved her life in the war."

A domestic comedy with its ups and downs, is definitely a WC Fields showcase ranging from his unsuccessful to successful inventions; chasing after his punctured proof tire down the street (done more convincingly here than a similar scene in THE MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE); trying to make amends with his wife by buying her a pet bird which turns out to be a giant Ostrich; to his climatic golf game lifted from one of his many comic supplements originated on the stage, as well as from his comedy short subject, THE GOLF SPECIALIST (1930), along with Tammany Young, a familiar face in many Fields comedies, participating as the caddy stooge.

Featured in the supporting cast are Dell Henderson as Mayor Brown; Nora Cecil as Mrs. Price; Frederic Sullivan as Edward Quimby Sullivan; Robert McKenzie as Charlie Bogle; and Elsie Cavanna, famous for her role as the patient in Fields' comedy short, THE DENTIST (1932) in a minor role as Sarah Smith, another town gossip, among others.

Kathleen Howard, famous for enacting her role as Fields' shrewish wife in both IT'S A GIFT (1934) and THE MAN OF THE FLYING TRAPEZE (1935), makes her first screen appearance with him here. Louise Carter, a physically fragile looking woman, as the domineering wife, shows her lack of love for her husband when in one instant, is told by the visiting Princess, "I think you're the luckiest woman in the world." Mrs. Bisbee responds, "Is my husband dead?" Larry "Buster" Crabbe, the famed swimming champion who scored success as Kaspa, the lion man, in KING OF THE JUNGLE (Paramount, 1933), and in the chaptered serial of TARZAN THE FEARLESS (1933), ranks one of the stronger supporting names ever credited in a Fields comedy, yet his secondary role, in its limited qualities, gives him very little to do but take the back seat to Fields, especially during the climatic golf game sequence where all he has to do is look on and smile. Joan Marsh as Pauline, the Bisbee daughter, with a hairstyle that makes her at times resemble Mary Carlisle, another Paramount starlet, has her limitations as well. She and Crabbe would reunite as romantic lovers in another domestic, WE'RE RICH AGAIN (RKO Radio, 1934), starring Edna May Oliver. Adrienne Ames as the princess, addressed as "Marie" by Bisbee, comes off better, playing the sympathetic character who helps Sam Bisbee regain his confidence and respect from his family and townspeople. She happens to be the only on screen character to use the then catch phrase of the time, "You're telling me?"

YOU'RE TELLING ME? is a sort after Fields comedy. Once believed to be a lost film at one point, it finally surfaced on commercial television in the late 1970s, which, by then, had become a totally unfamiliar comedy starring Fields. Back about that time when advertised in the TV Guide, this would stir high hopes for Fields fans when this edition would be listed only to find that the 1942 Hugh Herbert comedy bearing the same name being presented on the TV screen. YOU'RE TELLING ME really started to get recognized when it was presented, along with other Fields/ Paramount comedies, on cable channel's American Movie Classics, from 1992 to 1993. Out of circulation for almost a decade, YOU'RE TELLING ME?, which has since been distributed on video cassette, received some more exposure on Turner Classic Movies where it played from 2001 to 2002.

As with the themes of many Frank Capra comedies about the common man, "No man is a failure ... when he has friends." This theme is brought out in Samuel Bisbee who finds the true friendship in Princess Lescaboura, showing him that he is, in reality, not a failure at all. YOU'RE TELLING ME? is an enjoyable little 66 minute comedy, displaying not only his comedic talents, as an inventor who is no Thomas Edison, but a family man with a sympathetic nature, even when sneaking in a drink or two.