W.C. Fields is at his comic best in his legendary persona in the 1940 classic “The Bank Dick” playing Friday night at the N.C. Museum of Art as part of the “Universal @ 100” Winter Film Series. Fields, who wrote the screenplay under the name “Mahatma Kane Jeeves,” stars as a wise-cracking unemployed ne’er-do-well who becomes a security guard after foiling a bank robbery. Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel and the Three Stooges’ Shemp Howard also appear in the comedy that critic Roger Ebert once wrote was “probably Fields’ best film.”

Film critic and writer Craig D. Lindsey will introduce the film at 8 p.m. at the Museum Auditorium in the East Building. Tickets are $7 ($5 for students and NCMA members). Details: 919-715-5923; ncartmuseum.org/calendar.