It's a Gift

It's a masterpiece, and Fields' definitive study in the horrors of small town family life. Every person and thing around causes sublime winces of irritation, from the town's horrid disabled citizen Mr Muckle, and a passing insurance salesman looking for 'Karl LaFong', to a squeaking hammock and a rolling coconut. And Fields himself is so curmudgeonly that he almost snatches food from his son's mouth. There's little sentiment (or plot) to provide any relief, either; the film's string of set pieces (three of them taken from the 1925 Ziegfeld Follies) maintains a relentless pace and tone, making this easily the most devastating comedy of the '30s.