ShangLuda Admirable film.

FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

JohnHowardReid Despite the fact that it's rather peculiar in its construction, this is one of Fields' best comedies. Unfortunately, it runs out of steam about halfway through. And it's not as if the story runs out of plot. On the contrary, it suddenly gains one-and this is just the trouble. In fact, the more formless the movie is, the funnier it seems. Opening with an agreeable domestic hassle that introduces the characters, the screenplay quickly proceeds into the celebrated shop scene which everyone ranks as one of the most hilarious in Fields' entire repertoire. The whole scene is beautifully timed and acted by Fields, Charles Sellon, Tammany Young and Morgan Wallace. Fields' bustling bits of business and his facial expressions are truly inspired. Now I wonder why that particular scene has never been imitated and appropriated by lesser comedians? Answer: It's a real no-no, censorship wise. A man who is almost totally deaf and blind is made the butt of some astoundingly hair-raising sight gags and a couple of delicious verbal thrusts. And then it's topped by the truly extraordinary sequence co-ordinated by Johnny Sinclair in which the blind man innocently walks across the street, unknowingly exposing himself against every imaginable vehicular obstacle. The following episode in which Fields attempts to sleep on the verandah, is almost as funny. To my mind, however, it's allowed to run just a trifle too long-even though brought to an abrupt and hilarious conclusion! The next sequences, like the invasion of the private picnic ground, are not a quarter as amusing. And alas, by the time the plot reaches California, it has run out of steam. Nonetheless, it's still a great Fields outing. As noted, our comedian always enjoys excellent support, including some timely interventions from Kathleen Howard as his nagging wife. The screenplay makes two or three perfunctory attempts to work up a bit of romantic interest involving Jean Rouverol and Julian Madison, but this will worry no-one. It's a Gift is virtually one hundred proof Fields.AVAILABLE on DVD through Universal. Quality rating: Ten out of ten.

weezeralfalfa Moderately entertaining Paramount comedy, starring W.C. Fields, as Harold Bissonette, Kathleen Howard as wife Amelia, Jean Rouverol as daughter Mildred, and Jimmy Bupp as the young son, Norman. The story begins in N.J., where W.C. operates a small grocery store. W.C. is trying to shave, when Mildred butts in to hog the mirror, putting on lipstick and fixing her hair. W.C. says nothing, merely trying to accommodate the interruption by various means. Heading for breakfast, he slips on Norman's errant roller-skate. At breakfast, the family talks about Uncle Bean's inheritance, and W.C.'s idea of how best to use it, by buying an orange farm in California. Amelia and Mildred don't like the idea of pulling up roots and moving to the other side of the country, especially when W.C. has no experience growing oranges. Mildred's boyfriend, John introduced W.C. to the available farm he feels(unjustly) comfortable buying. Meanwhile, W.C. has assorted problems at his grocery store, which provides some humor. Then, after Amelia bothers W.C.,so that he can't sleep, he goes out on the porch, to sleep on the swinging couch. But, various noises and bothersome people(including a pesky insurance salesman!) interrupt his sleep there, providing more humor. W.C. sells his grocery store, and the family heads west in their roomy, but roofless, car. When camping, W.C. can't figure how to set up a complex folding chair, thus throws it on the campfire. Chill Wills and The Avalon boys serenade the Bissonettes with "On the Wabash, Far Away".In California, they sneak into a private estate to have a picnic. WC hits and breaks a statue of Venus de Milo, with little regret. After setting out their food, W.C. checks a sundial and declares that it is wrong by 10 min. Amelia is sarcastic that W.C. considers his watch more perfect than the sun. Actually, both could be correct, in their own way, depending on the longitude of their location. The family trashes the area around their picnic spot with paper and tin cans, and feathers from an heirloom pillow that a stray dog, along with W.C., tore up. Finally, the manager comes and shoos them away, after some indignant backtalk.They arrive at their 'orange grove', which turns out to be but a weed patch. The 'ranch house' is a broken down shambles. The others say they won't stay here, nor help fix it up. W.C. sits down on the car dashboard, to think things over, and the car implodes into a tangle of metal and rubber. But, just when things looked completely hopeless, they are extricated from their situation. I'll let you see the movie to find out how.

jarrodmcdonald-1 What makes W.C. Fields' comedy so good is the use of his body. Watch him walk in It's a Gift: he uses strategically placed steps and movements. And hear how his voice modulates from authoritative to submissive, sometimes within the same line of dialogue. But what gives his comedy and the film such relevance is the value that is placed on the relationship of Fields' character with the surrounding members of his immediate family and community. There are some tender moments with his daughter; with the blind man at the store; and later on the road, with his wife. I think Fields understood the nature of human relationships, and that is what takes priority in this movie. Sure, life is not perfect. There are many foibles to be sure. But it's a gift.

SnorrSm1989 One needs only to mention the porch-sequence, or the frustrating business with Mr. Muckle. Of all the films W.C. Fields appeared in, IT'S A GIFT may stand as the most consistently funny of them, or for that matter the most beloved. This praise might puzzle the casual by-passer; it's rather depressing, isn't it, the sight of an exhausted man simply nodding to his wife's frustrated remark "I've given you the best years of my life!" Well, generally speaking, perhaps. However, W.C. Fields was hardly a "general" comedian; one of his trademarks was to pull great comedy out of dysfunctional family life. Furthermore, the atmosphere he'd evoke through this cynical comedy of his would often appear close to resembling real life, so much so that the attempts would have fallen flat had they been treated by other hands. Fields is cast as the grocery-store owner Harold Bissonette (pronounced Bisson-AY when his wife's around), a sort of everyman whose big dream is to settle down in California and grow oranges. His dominant wife's skepticism notwithstanding, Harold buys an orange ranch with the few bucks the family has left. Inevitably, things turn out not quite as expected…By the time IT'S A GIFT was released towards the end of 1934, W.C. Fields had only recently become a name to behold among the movie-going public, at least whereas his work in sound films is concerned. The comedian had, however, been a well known stage presence for years, not only in vaudeville but also on Broadway. It was thus quite inevitable that Fields throughout his career as a movie star would often turn to his theatrical roots in order to get inspired; as such, IT'S A GIFT is only one of numerous examples. Based on a play written by Fields and J.P. McEvoy, the story had in fact made it onto the screen nearly a decade before, as the silent film THE OLD ARMY GAME. Although the original film also featured Fields as the struggling grocery-store owner, it didn't work that well out the first time around. One reason to its failure is often cited to be the absence of sound. Indeed, the brilliance of the famous sequence with Fields trying to get a few hours of sleep on the porch owes some debt to the use of sound effects, such as the terrorizing clunks of a coco-nut going down several stairs. However, of equal significance, I think, is the focus on character consistency which is far more present in IT'S A GIFT than its silent proceeder. The fact that Fields obviously took his character more into consideration in this later film may be one of the major reasons why it stands so well to this day, still forcing us helpless viewers to laugh our heads off at something which, esthetically speaking, looks pretty damn old. It's hilarious in itself that helpless Fields is forced to treat Mr. Muckle in kind manner while an impatient costumer roars for kumquats, and I defy anyone not to howl with laughter when a certain "Carl LaFong!" is mentioned. But what makes these sequences into a coherent entirety is the fact that we truly care about Fields. We may laugh harder and harder for each time his situation turns worse, but never without a tiny undercurrent hope for him to succeed the next time around.IT'S A GIFT was well-received upon its initial release, and marked a further step for Fields' approaching status as a household name. More than seventy-five years later, the comedy holds up possibly even better, as Fields' contemporary audiences had no way of telling how much ahead of his time the comedian actually was. He's able to make the phrase "I hate you--GET OUT!" sidesplitting. Enough said, but PLEASE open the door for Mr. Muckle!!