The Bank Dick (1940)

Henpecked Egbert Sousè has comic adventures as a substitute film director and unlikely bank guard.

Director:

Edward F. Cline (as Edward Cline)

Writer:

W.C. Fields (original screen play) (as Mahatma Kane Jeeves)

Stars:

W.C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
W.C. Fields	...	Egbert Sousé
Cora Witherspoon	...	Agatha Sousé
Una Merkel	...	Myrtle Sousé
Evelyn Del Rio	...	Elsie Mae Adele Brunch Sousé
Jessie Ralph	...	Mrs. Hermisillo Brunch
Franklin Pangborn	...	J. Pinkerton Snoopington
Shemp Howard	...	Joe Guelpe
Dick Purcell	...	Mackley Q. Greene (as Richard Purcell)
Grady Sutton	...	Og Oggilby
Russell Hicks	...	J. Frothingham Waterbury
Pierre Watkin	...	Mr. Skinner
Al Hill	...	Filthy McNasty aka Rupulsive Rogan
George Moran	...	Cozy Cochran aka Loudmouth Nasty
Bill Wolfe	...	Otis
Jack Norton	...	A. Pismo Clam

Storyline

Egbert Sousé leads an ordinary life but is about to have an extraordinary day. Henpecked at home home by his demanding wife Agatha and more or less ignored by his daughter Myrtle, he sets off for the day. He comes across a movie shoot whose drunken director hasn't shown up for work and Egbert, saying he has experience, is hired. Afterward, he gets credit for stopping bank robbers and is rewarded with a job as the bank guard. He seems headed for trouble however when he convinces his son-in-law Og, a teller at the same bank, to use $500 for can't lose investment. The investment is a scam however and when the bank examiner arrives, it looks bad for them. As you would expect however, it all turns out well in the end.

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Plot Keywords:

manipulative female | henpecked husband | eating | smoking | cigarette | 

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Taglines:

Was His Face Red . . . And His Nose, Too ! when the bandits took the money . . . and the SAFE !

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 November 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Great Man

Filming Locations:

Lompoc, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

"Mahatma Kane Jeeves" (the pseudonym used by W.C. Fields as screenwriter) is a play on words from stage plays of the era. "My hat, my cane, Jeeves!" And in fact, at the end of the film his butler does hand him his hat and his cane.

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Goofs

Wires are visible when the workmen are thrown from the ditch they are digging by the police motorcycle.

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Quotes

Egbert Sousé: This town has an altitude of 500 feet. Population is 4,500. Schools. Churches. Public Library. Three blocks of paved streets. Two trains a day - not counting the milk train that goes through at four o'clock in the morning. We have three drug stores - one actually sells medicine.
J. Pinkerton Snoopington: Stop. I'm dying. Could you direct me to a culvert.
Egbert Sousé: Why don't you wait to get up to the hotel. Its only six blocks. We pass the Spanish-Americo Chili Parlor on the way up.

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Connections

Referenced in Wings: The Bank Dick (1992)

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Soundtracks

Home Sweet Home
(1823) (uncredited)
Music by H.R. Bishop
Background music near the beginning of the movie and at the end

User Reviews

joyful comedy, asides, and the pleasures of smoking and drinking....

a source of strange joy, even in its quiet and failed moments. great moments mostly mumbled and underplayed so that the film seems so humble and so unaggressive, unlike most comedies now which would wring your neck if they could...Fields' before-its-time irony and self-consciousness about moviemaking is revealed in a throwaway line during the car chase at the end...in the midst of all the obviously speeded-up film and projection effects, Egbert Souse deadpans "you're going to make me have an accident....." I'm almost ready to move into Lompoc, with its Spanish-Americo chili parlor, and, I hope, "rivers of beer flowing over your grandmother's paisley shawl...." and, apparently, absinthe is still available....