W.C. Fields Movies

Want to know the best W.C. Fields movies?  How about the worst W.C. Fields movies?  Curious about W.C. Fields box office grosses or which W.C. Fields movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which W.C. Fields movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

W.C. Fields (1880-1946) was an American comedian, actor, juggler, and writer.  Fields’ comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist, who remained a sympathetic character despite his supposed contempt for children and dogs.  His IMDb page shows 41 acting credits between 1915 and 1944.  This page will rank W.C. Fields movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, uncredited roles, and movies that were not released in North American were not included in the rankings.

1940’s My Little Chickadee

W.C. Fields Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

1934’s It’s A Gift

W.C. Fields Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort W.C. Fields movies by his co-stars
  • Sort W.C. Fields movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
  • Sort W.C. Fields movies by domestic yearly box office rank
  • Sort W.C. Fields movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each W.C. Fields movie received.
  • Sort W.C. Fields movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
1941’s Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

Possibly Interesting Facts About W.C. Fields

1. William Claude Dukenfield was born in Darby, Pennsylvania in 1880.  His father was a United States Civil War veteran

2. In his younger days, W.C. Fields was a tennis hustler. Because of his amazing hand/eye coordination, hardly a game went by when he didn’t slice the ball so that it bounced on his opponent’s side and then returned before his opponent could get to it. His slices were nearly impossible to return, let alone reach.

3.  W.C. Fields was an accomplished amateur cartoonist. He often provided his own illustrations for his publicity material during his vaudeville days and sent sketches and self-drawn holiday cards to his friends, all his life.

4.  W.C. Fields is enshrined in the Juggling Hall of Fame.  He could juggle or balance practically anything he could lift or carry; Fields unnerved his despised mother-in-law by keeping a lit cigar, a candle (in holder), or a beer bottle balanced atop his head at mealtimes, never seeming to notice its presence.

5.  W.C. Fields has a medical syndrome named after him–“W.C. Fields syndrome“, characterized by rhinophyma (rosacea of the nose) associated with alcoholism.

Check out W.C. Fields’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

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18 thoughts on “W.C. Fields Movies”

  1. I have seen 7 W.C. Fields movies.

    The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is David Copperfield.

    The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is If I Had a Million.

    The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is Tillie’s Punctured Romance.

    Favourite W.C. Fields Movies:

    David Copperfield
    My Little Chickadee
    Big Broadcast of 1938
    The Bank Dick
    Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

    Other W.C. Fields Movies I Have Seen:

    It’s a Gift
    Tillie’s Punctured Romance

    Reply

  2. The 2nd paragraph of my Part One post today should read as follows. My apologies for the initial slight omission of the word “appearance”.

    “Yet W C had his own very distinct screen persona well-described by Bruce above and by an even Greater Authority at the bottom of my Part 2 Nowadays though most references that I personally have seen tend to relate to Fields’ apparent off-screen sarcastic and cantankerous conduct possibly -like Tracy’s private nastiness – fuelled at times by booze though one historian suggested that W C’s physical APPEARANCE may have had something to do with it

    Reply

  3. I’ve seen only two of Fields’ movies – My Little Chickadee and David Copperfield – but I loved him in both. Overall nowadays I see few of W C’s stand-alone movies mentioned individually and I have never before been privy to an overview of the stats of the Field flicks.

    WH [not to be confused with W. C.!] as he usually does rectifies that by providing the comprehensive stats tables above. [Batman I never think about but “Cogerson Forever!”] W. C. Fields “had a net worth equal to $10 million at the time of his death (after adjusting for inflation)” – Celebrity Net Worth site.

    Fields has in my view a strange but strong niche in movie legend and therefore richly deserves this new page which I welcome with a “Vote Up” In short: excellent choice Bruce; but I am sure that you won’t mind if I leave the last word to one whose opinions YOU revere. [You will notice that I use capitals to emphasise the “you”!]

    “Supreme misanthrope, great drinker, hen-pecked husband, con man and braggart – W.C Fields was all these things and more. He created – and WAS- a character so unique that it defies description. His witticisms, his temperament, his gripes and his pleasures have all passed into American folklore. His persona still exists to be laughed at, identified with, or borrowed, but it hides a sad personal story that is indelibly linked to Fields’ persona accomplishments.” Rating the Movie Stars Page 135 1983.

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob….I am right there with you with only seeing two of his movies. My Little Chickadee and The Bank Dick. His box office grosses were not an easy find at all….as I mentioned in another comment….I have been doing W.C. Fields research for a very longtime. I will give Box Office Madness a shout out….lots of the 1920s movies come from his Variety project. That is a very nice net worth for a man that lived in constant fear of becoming poor again. Thanks for sharing some of Consumer Reports/Joel wisdom on W.C. Fields. Good stuff as always.

      Reply

  4. When I think of the great stars of the classic era W C doesn’t immediately come to my mind as my first thoughts usually go to the glamorous stars like Al Leach and the young Gable; the charismatic ones such as Lancaster and Douglas; prestige actors at the level of Olivier and Paul Muni; and even the great singers/all-round entertainers who became actors such as Sinatra and his pal Dino.

    Yet W C had his own very distinct screen persona well-described by Bruce above and by an even Greater Authority at the bottom of my Part 2 Nowadays though most references that I personally have seen tend to relate to Fields’ apparent off-screen sarcastic and cantankerous conduct possibly -like Tracy’s private nastiness – fuelled at times by booze though one historian suggested that W C’s physical APPEARANCE may have had something to do with it

    W C is famous for uttering cynical one-liners such as “A man who hates children can’t be all bad.” and [off screen] some others that I can’t repeat on this site as he apparently wasn’t known for “minding his language”.

    I’ve mentioned before that W C was my Deanna’s next-door neighbour and he complained bitterly about her constantly annoying him by practicing her singing in the mornings. In that respect Fields reminds me of a relative of mine who lived a couple of doors away from his own nephew whom he reported to the authorities for keeping a dog that barked occasionally.

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob….thanks for the thoughts and feedback on W.C. Fields. I agree, he is not your normal movie star. Put him in the unlikely movie star category with John Candy, Marie Dressler and others. I have done some reading on him….it seems he had it rough as a child….not the worst upbringing….but a rough one for sure.

      W.C. Fields and children. His “act” of not liking children seems to be just that….an act. There are lots of stories about how he actually liked children. He helped support Baby LeRoy’s family when they had issues later on, he left money to an orphanage….he got real depressed when the following happened at his house.

      His much-vaunted aversion to children is generally thought to have been largely put-on. Co-stars Freddie Bartholomew and Gloria Jean both recalled him as being warm and solicitous. Further evidence of this is the case of 18-month old Christopher Quinn. In 1941, the oldest son of Anthony Quinn and Katherine DeMille wandered off his maternal grandparents’ (Cecil B. DeMille) property and onto Fields’, next door. There the youngster accidentally fell into Fields’ fish pond and drowned. Fields was said to have been very much disturbed by this, and moved away shortly thereafter.

      The last paragraph almost made the possibly interesting facts…but we try and stay away from bad stuff like this….but it is interesting. Good stuff.

      Reply

      1. HI BRUCE:
        Thanks for the feedback and the additional information about Claude most of which I found interesting. I still can’t forgive him for bad-mouthing my lovely Deanna though. If you had a beautiful nightingale singing to you each morning would you gripe about it? Complaining about a neighbour singing or a relative’s dog strikes me as something that probably Andy Griffith might have done!

        It always amuses me when I read about your strenuous efforts to keep “bad stuff” off your site. I am reminded of that sewer in Guys and Dolls where the gamblers went to play their illegal crap games away from the prying eyes of Robert Keith and his police: it looked like an ice cream parlour on screen; with Sinatra and Brando along with Sheldon Leonard – as Runyon’s Harry the [Work] Horse – and the other gamblers all frequenting that sewer as smartly dressed as if they were in a church!

        There is so much feelgood and other positive stuff on your site that most viewers might welcome a little bit more ‘reality’ balance – a trip to The Dark Side as Steve and his Star Wars clique might express it. Explanatory information such as you have given here might help many viewers understand why someone with W.C’s reputation for anti-social behaviour at times was like he was – though I still wonder what Old Cantankerous’ excuse was. Someday I will have my own site and I will not let my viewers say anything GOOD about the likes of Willis and The Thin Woman and Al Leach!

        Anyway continue to keep safe.

        Reply

  5. Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh yyyyyyeeeessss iiinnndeed. My Little Chickadee
    My favorite Old time favorite comedian,
    Excellent actor also.
    Great UMR page

    Mike

    Reply

    1. Hey Mike….been working on this one for years…and I am not exaggerating at all….I remember finding some biographies on him years ago. Those books did not really help…but I was researching him back then. Thanks for the kind words.

      Reply

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