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3/23/2021

The Golf Specialist (1930) - Fields on the green is comedic gold

 

W.C. Fields engaged with his golf club amid a general confusion in a delightful still from Monte Brice's The Golf Specialist

A rascally layabout, who attempts to steal money from a little girl, takes another man's flirtatious wife out on the tee to show her how a game of golf is played.


The Golf Specialist is a pre-Code comedy short directed by Monte Brice (Casey at the Bat (1927)), which was star W.C. Fields' (It's a Gift (1934)) first sound picture.

A part of this mostly studio-shot flick is pretty primitive; and especially the many sound gags are obviously a result of the recent advent of the novelty of sound on film, more so than they point to the future of comedy.

Most of the story takes place around Fields' first strike at the golf ball, which never succeeds due to various obstacles: a pie, flying papers and other ridiculous things. - One should be inordinately hard-boiled not to chuckle several times at Fields' grotesque routine there. - It is golden.



 

Watch a 2-minute clip from the short here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[The Golf Specialist was released 22 August (USA) and runs 20 minutes. Shooting took place in New Jersey. Fields' golf routine had been used in So's Your Old Man (1926) and again later in You're Telling Me! (1934). The film fell into public domain in the 1960s and can be seen and downloaded free and legally right here. Brice returned with Resolutions (1930, short). Fields returned in Her Majesty, Love (1931). 1,051 IMDb users have given The Golf Specialist a 6.3/10 average rating.]

 

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