W.C. Fields and the Gospel of Irreverence: The Bank Dick
With Andrew Kelly and Dr Harriet Fields
W.C. Fields and the Gospel of Irreverence: The Bank Dick
With Andrew Kelly and Dr Harriet Fields
Wednesday 4 February, 2026
Watershed
16:00
PG
Dir: Edward F. Cline, Ralph Ceder,1940,USA, 72 min
6.00 -
12.00
Irreverent, subversive and gloriously funny, The Bank Dick (1940) remains one of W.C. Fields’ greatest comedies – and a perfect gateway into Slapstick’s ongoing exploration of faith, morality and rebellion in screen humour. Fields plays Egbert Sousé, a perpetually inebriated dreamer who blunders into becoming a small-town hero and then a bank guard, where his chaotic misadventures dismantle respectability from within. Every scene preaches Fields’ personal “gospel of irreverence”.
A timely sermon against pomposity and moral pretence. Hosted by Andrew Kelly (Festival of Ideas) with a very special guest and festival patron, Dr Harriet Fields, live onscreen.
85min
