In one of his most immortal roles, comedy legend W.C. Fields (It’s a Gift) plays Larson E. Whipsnade, raconteur and ringmaster of the Circus Giganticus. On the run from the law and on the lam from creditors, Whipsnade pauses only long enough to crack his whiplike wit on the brilliant ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (Fun and Fancy Free) and his wooden pals Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Directed by Hollywood great George Marshall (The Ghost Breakers) and co-starring Eddie “Rochester” Anderson (Gone with the Wind) and Constance Moore (Buck Rogers), it’s a three-ring circus of madness, mayhem and Ping-Pong—a side-splitting spectacle any honest man can enjoy. And as Whipsnade’s dear old grandfather used to say: You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man.

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[youtube https://youtu.be/_Ii4uA0MNE8?t=4708]

Video Quality

You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man makes its Blu-Ray debut thanks to Kino Classics with a brand new 1080p master from a 2K scan. Out of the three W.C. Fields titles that were released on the same day, the other two being You’re Telling Me and Man On The Flying Trapeze, this is the one with the most consistent presentation. The new transfer shows off a great amount of depth and enhanced detail within the film’s composition. There is a pleasing amount of detail present with nice textures on the clothing and within the inventive production design of the circus setting. The sparkling black-and-white photography shot by Milton R. Krasner shines in high definition with natural grain intact. Black levels are deep with no notable occurrence of black crush or compression artifacts. The contrast is well defined, and the track only experiences a small amount of flicker and density fluctuation in the print. There remains a subtle layer of minor nicks and scratches within this print, but it has been cleaned up immensely. Kino Classics has done some admirable work with this disc.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with a sturdy DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that serves this movie well considering its vintage. As is typical of this time, the track can sound a bit thin when it comes to the music, which almost assuredly dates back to the state of the source elements. Dialogue and background noises are balanced well with all competing elements. The Frank Skinner score does not overpower the dialogue or other important information throughout the duration. This track only presents with a subtle amount of age related wear and tear and some light hissing and crackles. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles included for the feature film. Kino Classics has presented this feature about as well as you could hope.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Filmmaker/Historian Michael Schlesinger provides a very entertaining and informative commentary track in which he discusses the return of Fields to the screen after a break to tend to his health, the disagreements he had with the director, the reprisal of various performers from previous W.C. Fields pictures, the background of the cast and creatives that pop up, amusing anecdotes he has about some of the people involved with the film and more.

Trailers: There is a minute-and-a-half trailer provided for You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man. There are also trailers provided for The Old Fashioned Way, The Bank Dick, My Little Chickadee, Alice In Wonderland, The Ghost Breakers and Murder He Says.

Final Thoughts

You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man is not W.C. Fields at his absolute best, but even the second tier work of this comedian produces a lot of comedy gold. The film is a bit overlong compared to what you want from it, but this does allow some secondary characters to get more development than what we have become accustomed to from Fields. Kino Classics has delivered a Blu-Ray release that sports both a strong A/V presentation and an informative commentary track. If you are a fan of W.C. Fields, you will find this one a great addition to your collection. Recommended

You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.