I recently bought this nicely restored movie just to watch Bergen and McCarthy, and I was simply blown away by Bergen's manipulative skill. I know I'm not telling anyone who participates in this board anything new, but I just had to gush a little about him.

As you know, Charlie had exactly two movements--mouth and head. Yet through his manipulation Bergen achieves an extraordinary range of emotions and attitudes with Charlie. In fact, much of the time, Charlie's acting is much less wooden than Bergen's. As with all great comic duos, Bergen knew who should be the more memorable in the act!

Maybe it's because of my love of vent that I found the Bergen/McCarthy performance much more amusing than that of W.C. Fields, the star of the movie. There are some classic Fields lines ("Go away, kid, you draw flies!") and some good physical bits, but I think B/Mc steal the picture. There is, by the way, a very funny bit in which Fields tries to do a vent act.

If you want to study one of the greats, I strongly suggest you buy/rent this movie. One note of warning: there is one shockingly racist scene in which Eddie "Rochester" Anderson appears. One can only shake one's head and remember that the movie was made in a different era.

Bob

P.S. Watch for cameos by Mickey Rooney and Margaret Hamilton.

Bob,
Thanks for the review. I haven't seen that film in decades. I'll check it out.

Oliver

And thank you. I, too, hadn't seen it in decades.

Do I see a bit of Bergen influence in the choice of your and your figure's costumes?

Bob

I hadn't thought about it but I see what you mean. I really just picked a look that worked with the name Oliver Twist.

Mr Bergen is really a great vent

This is one of my favorite movies. I never get tired of Bergen. He could imbue his characters with so much personality!

Yesterday my family and I saw the new Disney movie "Enchanted." Bergen is briefly seen on a television program with Mortimer Snerd.

Bob

Hello;
Is this film on DVD yet?
Silking

"You Can't Cheat An Honest Man" is available on DVD as part of a W.C. Fields collection at Amazon.com.


Bob

Bergen's THE master figure manipulator. He didn't have the best lip control but, boy oh boy, watch how he made Charlie look alive through manipulation.

If you can't get this film, you may want to check him at youtube.

This is now available on Netflix.

Guess I should have waited a few years and saved myself some trouble.
I had a collection of old vent movies and videos on vhs and at some point, I bought a dvd player/burner, (this was before they were commonly standard equipment on new computers) and transferred all to dvd.
Now that it comes up, it occurs to me I haven't watched them in a while, might be time to get them out again.....

Yesterday I saw another Bergen's full-length film, "Letter of Introduction," and I, like Bob, was also blown away by Bergen's masterful manipulation of Charlie.

With just mouth and head movements, Charlie seemed more real, life-like than some actors there.

We can really learn a lot from watching Bergen...

People talk about Bergen's manipulation, but it wasn't just that, it was his whole way of interacting with and relating to Charlie (and the others). Some people just have 'something', a way about them, and Bergen just had a manner and way about him that was a natural thing and not something anyone could duplicate.

I was reading Jeff Dunham's book and he points out what Blueshawk says above. That's where Jeff learned how important it was to develop the character of the figure instead of just tell jokes!

Once I sat down and actually transcribed a 10 minute act of Bergen and later did it with Jeff... some of the lines just don't "read" funny, but it's the character of the figure and it's delivery that makes it funny.

Gary

Another good movie that shows Charlie as a character and not just a dummy is Charlie McCarthy Detective. Harder to find but worth it.

Thanks for sharing this. I am going to try and find a copy of these films.

There are so many, but another wonderful example of Bergen's brilliance is HBO's 1978 Vent Event. Even a few months before he died, his manipulation was genius. There's a point in his act where Bergen is explaining something and waves his hand, and Charlie actually follows Bergen's hand movement in such a natural way. I was watching this with my wife and kept rewinding that part and saying to her, "Look at that! Do you see? Just brilliant!" I am fortunate that I am married to an extremely supportive wife who appreciates brilliance in all forms! ;o)

I just learned from Al Steven's terrific book (which I highly recommend) that none of the Charlies had a ball and socket neck, so Bergen had to hold Charlie's head up at all times. Knowing this, I appreciation Bergen's manipulation even more.