YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN (1939) B/W 76m dirs: George Marshall, Edward F. Cline

w/W.C. Fields, Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd, Pietro Blacaman, Princess Baba, Constance Moore, Mary Forbes, Thurston Hall, John Arledge

Fields runs a traveling show ("Larson E. Whipsnade's Circus Giganticus") and can't make a buck or stay ahead of the sheriff.

From The Movie Guide: "Universal Studios waved big money under comedian Fields's legendary proboscis and wooed him away from Paramount. In his first film for his new studio, Fields turned to the kind of character he loved best --- a terminally broke and nomadic huckster who must live by his wits to stay one step ahead of the law. ...

"Like most Fields vehicles, YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN is a virtually plotless array of hilarious verbal and visual gags designed to make the most of the comedian's prodigious talents. The script was actually a reworking of two previous projects, a rejected screenplay titled 'Grease Paint,' written by H.M. Walker in 1933, with added plot lines from Fields' silent movie TWO FLAMING YOUTHS. Once again Fields wrote the story under the pseudonym of 'Charles Bogle,' but Universal and director Marshall removed several important scenes that Fields felt were essential to his character development. In the film, Fields seems to be an entirely unlikable character with little or no compassion for his workers or family. In the script, Fields began the film with a tender scene where his wife, a trapeze artist who has suffered a fall, dies in his arms. Despite --- or perhaps because of --- trimmings of this nature, YOU CAN'T CHEAT is one of Fields's most sustained comic triumphs, containing several classic moments."