The Pharmacist

This is the kind of short comedy that shows W.C. Fields's brand of humor at its most distinctive. Mixing the subtle and the outrageous, it offers plenty of good gags, and it is the kind of feature that improves the more carefully you watch it. It has some fine surreal moments that, at least if you enjoy Fields's style, can be quite hilarious.

As "The Pharmacist", Fields plays a character who is at the same time good-natured yet misanthropic. He lives and works in a ridiculous situation, giving Fields the chance to use his voice, facial expressions, and mannerisms in some very funny ways. A couple of the vignettes with the customers are so nicely done that it's easy to miss the many subtleties. (The fussy man asking for a stamp might be the best-remembered of them.)

As the wife and daughter, Elise Cavanna and Marjorie Kane are also very good, fitting their characters right into the world that Fields creates.

Fields excels in (among other things) throwing his viewers an occasional curve, and it's not always easy to catch everything, "The Pharmacist", like its companions "The Dentist" and "The Barber Shop", has a resourceful supply of material performed by one of the movies' most talented comedians.