Palaest recommended

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

LeonLouisRicci Considered One of the Best, If Not The Best of Fields Films. It is a Comedy of Annoyance and W.C. Never Really Gets Aggravated Despite the World Conspiring Against Him. It is a Lesson in Tolerance and Restraint. Fields Never Lets the Situation or the Onslaught of Circumstance Get to Him. He Maintains Self-Respect While Never Achieving Any of That from the People in His Life.A Blind Man Who Shows No Regard for Anything but Himself (he orders a pack of gum and can't be bothered to take it with him, he wants it delivered, Fields delivers), a Nagging Wife Who Never Stops Insulting Him, Calling Him an idiot and Berating His Very Being ("you've gotten mighty familiar with the upstairs neighbor."), or His Self-Involved children (the daughter commandeering the bathroom mirror, or the son leaving his roller skate at the top of the stairs).None of This Phases W.C. in the Slightest. He Continues to Pursue His Dream of an Orange Orchard. The Movie is a Non-Stop Set-Piece for Fields to Showcase His Athletic and Acrobatic Gracefulness and His Dry Wit While it Continues to Rain On Top of Him. There is Some Subtle Underlying Commentary. With WWI and its Onslaught on Humanity Still Very Much in the Public Mind, Fields Opening a Can of Tomatoes with an Axe, "I'll show you how we did it in the Army.", and the can of tomatoes explodes all over his white shirt. Many Famous W.C. Comedy Bits are Present Here, Carl LaFong, the Back Porch Swing, and the Aforementioned Blind Man Sequence. It's Truly a Comedy Masterpiece and Holds Up Very Well Today. The Ending is Unexpectedly Poignant. After the Old Car that traveled across country collapses, Fields Mutters Under His Breath. "Well at least it got us here."That Sums Up the Likability of W.C. Fields, Forever Forgiving in the Era of the Depression. He Survives and is Grateful for His Gin and Orange Juice as the Family Goes Off to do Some Shopping. He Waves and Smiles.

Bill Slocum W. C. Fields specialized in two kinds of characters, tricksters and henpecked husbands. "It's A Gift" works as a showcase of Fields in the latter department.Fields is Harold Bissonette, pronounced "bis-son-ay," a store clerk who dreams of an orange grove to call his own. His nagging wife Amelia (Kathleen Howard) just can't wait to tick off all the ways Harold ticks her off in as loud a voice as possible. Harold puts up with this as he plots to buy his orange grove despite her persistent objections."What did I say last?" she demands at the end of one tirade."Yes, yes, every word of it," a distracted Harold meekly replies.If you are a die-hard W. C. fan, it's not hard to recommend "It's A Gift." It's a series of quintessential setpieces of Fieldsian slow burns and double-speak. There's not much to be said for the plot, as you shouldn't have to pay more attention to it than Fields and his team of writers did. The point is to get Fields in various messes, and this "It's A Gift" does with brisk efficiency.Plenty of famous bits make their way on screen. The infamous Carl LaFong is name-dropped and name-spelled for eternity, and there's of course the biggest cinematic nod in the direction of the kumquat industry, though unlike Mr. LaFong they get the name spelled wrong. Everyone remembers that scene where Harold tries to whack his son ("Well, he's not going to tell me I don't love him!") and when he comes up with a Churchillian reply when accused of being drunk.The question of enjoying "It's A Gift" boils down to how much you embrace "aggravation comedy," where the humor is built into annoying situations made more so through sheer repetition. I can only take so much of Harold dodging customers in his store, or wrestling with a deck chair. A long sequence showcases Harold trying to sleep on a porch while a milkman, a coconut, a salesman, and a squeaky clothesline all conspire against him. I can't help but chuckle a few times, but am always happy when the scene ends.Harold is a fascinating character, a beaten man who is the author of his own destruction. He bought an orange ranch even after knowing it was a lemon, lets a blind man smash everything in his store, and of course married Amelia. But he's still Fields, and manages to work his way through his self-created turmoil to a surprisingly upbeat, if left-field, conclusion.That's my favorite part of the film, but you can't say enough for the able support of Kathleen Howard. Her Amelia is a wonderful shrew, kind of likable in her querulous way. She nags Harold even in her sleep, and her line readings are deliriously skewed in the way they seem to fall heavy on nearly every other syllable. "Don't be kicking Norman's skates around!" she huffs after Harold does a header slipping on one of his son's roller-skates, as if Harold did it just to annoy her. Considering this is Fields, maybe he did.Director Norman Z. McLeod isn't much talked about even among film students, though he may be the only man who directed major vehicles for Fields, the Marx Brothers, Harold Lloyd, and Danny Kaye. He knew how to work with comedy stars, and here keeps Fields at the center of the action.Watching "It's A Gift" can be hard on the nerves, but it's also a treat for the funny bone with a good heart discernible amid the mayhem.

SmileysWorld I profess this film to be the very first W.C. Fields film that I have ever viewed in it's entirety.The verdict? While I don't view W.C. Fields to be among the funniest comedians I have ever seen,his work in this film left an overall good impression on me.The film contains a good mixture of sight gags and one liners,and I found all of them to be the comedy equivalent of home runs,or at the least,triples.About the only thing I didn't laugh at in this film was Mr. Fields' interaction with the children.Overall I find the film to be a winner,and would view again should I come across it on television and were finding myself in need of laughs.

fenian2153 There are enough sight gags and brilliant lines of dialog to keep your average college film class busy all year. While it's true that "It's a Gift" has many classic comedy moments, the scene that makes this film special to me is a poignant one. It's late in the story: Harold (Fields) realizes that his dream of owning an orange grove in California has literally crumbled in front of him. His wife and kids have left him. His one lifeline, the family car, has fallen to pieces. With his world in ruins, Fields sits on the front stoop of his "ranch house". And the last friend he has in this world, a dog, comes up and licks his face. It's been fifty years since I first saw this film and that scene still brings tears to my eyes.