It's a Gift (1934)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

It's a Gift (1934) -- N. McLeod

W. C. Fields is the master of deadpan comedy, muttering witticisms under his breath often in reaction to over-the-top situations (which may have been created by his own ineptitude).  In It's A Gift, he plays Bissonette (Bissonay!) who runs a grocery store (cue chaos and molasses) but would rather own an orange plantation in California.  When his uncle dies, he inherits the money to move his family out there.  Such is the plot but this is just an excuse for stringing comic bits together.  Some are slow burners where the stupidity is apparent a long time before the actual ridiculousness happens but others are throwaway one-liners. Fields is delightfully put-upon and to my eyes a bit less misanthropic and more kindly than he is in other films such as The Bank Dick. It's worth getting into this film's groove.