Although certainly not in the same comedic league as The Bank Dick and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, this W. C. Fields comedy feature from 1934, now fully restored in glorious Blu-ray format, The Old-Fashioned Way still offers enough madcap slapstick appeal—with a subtle Depression-era social comment—to keep fans of Fields content for much of its runtime. Here, Fields plays the Great McGonigal, the unscrupulous leader of a two-bit touring theater group down on its luck in the midst of the Depression.
The conniving McGonigal uses every sly trick in the book to secure financing for his troupe to continue their shabby theatrical roadshow, but when the authorities threaten to shut him down for unpaid debts, McGonigal has to resort to wooing the untalented but wealthy, popular socialite Cleopatra Pepperday, whose presence in the film will mean solvency for the down-and-out troupe. But creditors are not the only nemeses McGonigal must deal with: he’s also confronted with Pepperday’s tedious toddler son Albert (Baby LeRoy), who takes an instant disliking to McGonigal. In one particularly funny scene, little Albert dips McGonigal’s pocket watch in molasses and then ruins his suit (“He has a mind of his own!” quips the embattled troupe leader).
W.C. Fields’s dry sense of humor is still evident intermittently, but clearly, the real attraction here turns out to be something of an homage to Fields’s considerable time spent on the vaudeville circuit. As the Great McGonigle, Fields performs a segment of his nimble juggling act as a sort of intermission during the over-the-top Victorian temperance play the troupe is staging. Despite the film not being the best vehicle for Fields’s usual lovable drunkard humor, there’s still plenty of fun to be had for diehard Fields fans. Optional.