W.C. Fields and the Gospel of Irreverence: The Bank Dick

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.

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