Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941)

• Year: 1941
• Released: 10 Oct 1941
• Country: United States
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033945/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/never_give_a_sucker_an_even_break
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: Passed
• Genre: Comedy, Musical
• Runtime: 71 min
• Writer: John T. Neville, Prescott Chaplin, W.C. Fields
• Director: Edward F. Cline
• Cast: W.C. Fields, Gloria Jean, Leon Errol
• Keywords: musical, niece, uncle niece relationship, maternity ward,

	7.1/10
	100% – Critics
	81% – Audience

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break Storyline

Fields wants to sell a film story to Esoteric Studios. On the way he gets insulted by little boys, beat up for ogling a woman, and abused by a waitress. He becomes his niece’s guardian when her mother is killed in a trapeze fall during the making of a circus movie. He and his niece, who he finds at a shooting gallery, fly to Mexico to sell wooden nutmegs in a Russian colony. Trying to catch his bottle as it falls from the plane, he lands on a mountain peak where lives the man- eating Mrs. Hemogloben. When he gets to the Russian colony he finds Leon Errol (father of the insulting boys and owner of the shooting gallery) already selling wooden nutmegs. He decides to woo the wealthy Mrs. Hemogloben but when he gets there Errol has preceded him. The Mexican adventure is the story that Esoteric Studios would not buy.

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Never Give a Sucker an Even Break Movie Reviews

not quite up to snuff

This movie came out shortly after “The Bank Dick” and suffers by comparison. “The Bank Dick”, though not his best film (I’d give that honor to “It’s a Gift”), is one of the better ones. Also, it really shows that Fields had so much control over the movie–though perhaps it is a little too self-indulgent and surreal at times. Some may find the extreme silliness refreshing–I just thought it bordered on stupid on occasion (like when he dove out of the airplane after his lost bottle of hooch only to fall into the arms of Margaret Dumont–unscratched). Also, insisting on the casting of the teen actress Gloria Jean was a big mistake as Fields is at his best when he is fighting or abusing kids, not treating them in an avuncular manner (wow–that’s a big word–it means treating them like he’s their beloved uncle). Despite these two big drawbacks, the film still has wonderful moments and I do recommend it. However, if you are unfamiliar with his films, DON’T watch this one first!

Selling A Screenplay, Fields Style

Never Give A Sucker An Even Break was W.C. Fields’s last starring film and last one that he had complete creative control. All of his future film work would be guest appearances and specialties.

This film is as anarchistic as anything the Marx Brothers ever did, in fact it anticipates Monty Python by over 30 years. Most of it is Fields relating an idea for a screenplay to studio head Franklin Pangborn. This is where it gets positively surreal.

To cement the Marxian connection Fields gets to pay court to Groucho’s favorite foil Margaret Dumont. But the relationship here is totally different. Margaret is always the butt of Groucho’s bon mots half of which she confessed herself went over her head. With Fields as with other women like Kathleen Howard who henpecked him previously, the women dominate and Fields gets his points across, but mostly with pantomime and facial expression.

The film is also to showcase Universal’s backup teenage soprano Gloria Jean. Remember at this time before Abbott&Costello score a hit with Buck Privates, Deanna Durbin was their number one star. But the best way to keep a star under control was to have a replacement waiting in the wings. That was Gloria Jean’s function. She had done well with Bing Crosby in a film the previous year, If I Had My Way, that allowed a far better expression of her talents. She had a pleasing soprano voice and Fields lowered the cynicism quotient in his scenes with his ‘niece’.

Still Never Give A Sucker An Even Break is a Bill Fields film all the way. Too bad this was the last film to give his talents full range.

Fields’ Last Film Not Up To Snuff

Expecting another humorous film, a la “You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man,” I was disappointed in this W.C. Fields effort. I just didn’t find it that funny or, to give him a even break, not up to his standards.

Oh, it had a few funny segments such as Fields jumping out of an airplane and the cool Keystone Cops-like chase scene at the end. It also had a cute 13-year- old Gloria Jean, who showed us a good voice for a young girl. However, that alto voice is a bit too high for me.

There were several songs in this film and none of them were any good. Most of the humor was Three Stooges-like stuff and it wasn’t very funny. The Stooges did better at that sort of thing.

Sorry to see Fields go out like this (his last film.) In the end, spending your money buying this film proves the title, us being the “sucker.”