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Sunday, Jul 19, 2015
4:30 PM
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Pacific Film Archive Theater
The Man on the Flying Trapeze
Another of the beleaguered family men that were by this time a Fields trademark, Ambrose Wolfinger lives in quiet misery, oppressed by his second wife and her good-for-nothing relations. Ambrose may be a victim, but he's hardly innocent: apprehending a pair of burglars in his basement, he joins them in a few rounds of homemade applejack and a boozy rendition of "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away"; using the made-up funeral of his very-much-alive mother-in-law as an excuse to skip work for a wrestling match, he sets off a full-fledged town scandal. Despite the sketchy plot, the New York Times called this "the kind of burlesque which comes dangerously close to realism."
—Juliet Clark
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- B&W
- 35mm