Man on the Flying Trapeze

Comedy legend W.C. Fields (My Little Chickadee) is Ambrose Wolfinger, a henpecked husband who wants the afternoon off (his first in twenty-five years) to go to a wrestling match, so he tells his boss he must attend his mother-in-law’s funeral. The afternoon soon turns catastrophic. He tries to please a policeman, assist a chauffeur, chase a tire, and ends up getting hit by the body of a wrestler thrown from the ring. Directed by Buster Keaton cohort Clyde Bruckman (The General) with Fields’ uncredited help, Man on the Flying Trapeze is a high-flying act of comedic brilliance. The marvelous cast includes Mary Brian (Running Wild), Kathleen Howard (It’s a Gift), Grady Sutton (The Bank Dick) and Walter Brennan (Rio Bravo).