DVD Review: Charley Chase at Hal Roach - The Talkies - Volume 2 (1932-1933)

Kit Parker Films has released, again through Sprocket Vault, another volume of Charley Chase two-reel comedies, this time covering the 15 shorts he made for Hal Roach productions during 1932 and 1933. It is one of the strongest periods of Chase's long career and features some of his best work.

Charley Chase was, at one time, called "unfairly forgotten" because his wonderful short films were only really known by those who explored screen comedy's history. They received some TV exposure in the 1950s but not really much since. Some specialized cable stations would run the films later on, but there was a long gap of several decades where his movies were really only available via the collector's market. When I wrote my book The Charley Chase Talkies several years ago, gathering the films for screenings was one of the bigger challenges. The fact that we can now get two years of short films, restored from the best available pre-print material, for roughly half the price that only one of the comedies would cost in 16mm back in the 1970s is certainly cause for celebration.

Volume Two features the following two-reel comedies:

THE TABASCO KID

Charley Chase shows his comic versatility in this short, playing a dual role: his usual screen character and a Mexican bandit. This leads to comic confusion with a rancher's daughter, with whom Charley is smitten, getting the two mixed up. Chase was fluent in Spanish so his accent is authentic while also being comical. Highlights include a musical sequence where Charley hastily orders instruments and tries to put a band together in order to impress the woman. James Horne directed.

THE NICKEL NURSER

Charley plays an efficiency expert who is hired by a businessman to curb the reckless spending of his wife and daughters. There are slapstick highlights but most of this comedy is situational, with the added benefit of Thelma Todd appearing as one of the daughters. She wants to get closer to Charley to figure out his intentions, so she poses as the maid and has the maid pose as a daughter. Charley is taken aback when the maid speaks with a thick accent. This was Thelma's last movie with Charley. Warren Doane directed.

IN WALKED CHARLEY

A woman and her daughter plan to go on a trip. The husband is staying behind. When he finds out his mother-in-law is staying with him, he pretends to be crazy so they'll call off the trip. Charley is the travel agent who has to sort all of this out, while humoring the "crazy" man (wonderfully played by Del Henderson). Warren Doane directed

FIRST IN WAR

Second musical sequel to "High Seas" (1930), the first being "Rough Seas" (1931), both of which can be found on the terrific Volume One set. This one has Charley, in the military, writing a song, and selling it to the leader of another country for a few dollars, only to have it become that country's anthem. The man turns out to be a revolutionary whom the military is trying to imprison. Billy Gilbert is especially amusing as the harried commander. Luis Alberni offers another highlight performance. Warren Doane directed.

YOUNG IRONSIDE

Some of Charley Chase's best work happened when he was directed by his brother, James Parrott. The two brothers seemed to have a connection that resulted in some really interesting comic ideas. This one features Charley being hired by a pretentious wealthy family to keep their daughter from entering a beauty contest, which they find to be beneath their social station. Muriel Evans begins her happy association with Charley Chase here.

GIRL GRIEF

In one of his funniest two-reelers, Charley is a bashful young man who must teach his mother's music class at an all-girl boarding school while she gets over laryngitis. The scene where he is teaching the girls and they jazz up their delivery, causing him to get caught up and start dancing, is a delightful highlight. The girls then sprinkle catnip in his bed, and Charley spends the night battling stray alley cats coming in through an open window. Muriel Evans again co-stars, and James Parrott once again directs.

NOW WE'LL TELL ONE

This wonderfully surreal comedy has Charley engaged in a science experiment in which a belt he is wearing transforms him into the personality of whomever is wearing a similar belt. So, when he attends a society party at his girl's home, he responds to the personalities of a drunk, a dancer, etc. It is as courageously clever as it is delightfully amusing.

MR BRIDE

As hilarious as it is bizarre, "Mr Bride" features Dell Henderson as a stuffy businessman whose own ego leads him to believe the woman he has chosen to marry will not refuse his proposal. He plans an expensive honeymoon, and to make sure everything goes perfectly, he decides to do a test run with employee Charley taking the place of the bride. Hilarious edgy comedy ensues, Chase brilliantly playing embarrassment at its funniest.

FALLEN ARCHES

Charley takes everything his boss says literally, so when he is asked to hike to the company's San Francisco office to investigate a financial misappropriation, he literally hitchhikes to the faraway destination. When his boss discovers this, he sends his daughter to find him and give him train tickets. The running gag of literal translation (e.g. Charley being told "oh go jump in the lake" and he does) works well in this context, and Billy Gilbert is great as the frustrated employer. Gus Meins directed.

NATURE IN THE WRONG

Outrageously funny Tarzan parody has Charley discovering he is the ancestor of the noted literary Jungle King. He tries to emulate Tarzan by swinging from a vine in the park, but bangs into a tree and is knocked out. He then dreams himself as a modern day ape man. Showing Charley as a veritable Tarzan in the jungle, but a contemporary domestic setting is sharp parody while retaining the familiar elements of a Chase comedy. Chase directed this one himself, but without screen credit.

HIS SILENT RACKET

James Finlayson plays the owner of a laundry whose business is beset by gangsters asking for protection money. He tells them that he will sell half the business in order to obtain the necessary funds to pay the gangsters. Charley is the one he dupes into being Fin's partner. Chase is regularly directing his own films now, relying successfully on his own resources.

ARABIAN TIGHTS

Chase liked to use music in his films during this period in his career, and this short enjoys a lot of it. He and Muriel Evans have a confrontational relationship as Charley plays an American Legion member visiting France, and keeps getting into accidental scrapes that cause her to respond by kicking him. Each time she does, he puts a chalk mark on his sleeve to indicate he has been wounded. He and his friends later unwittingly sign up for a stretch in the Foreign Legion. This would be Muriel Evans last film with Chase until "Nurse To You" a couple of years later (which would be her last with him).

SHERMAN SAID IT

Set during Armistice, Charley is a soldier trying to head back home to America, but is constantly stopped by unfinished business. Another military comedy with songs, as were "High Seas," "Rough Seas," and "First in War." This was not the first of his comedies he directed, but it is the first one for which he receives screen credit. He uses his real name of Charles Parrott, just as he had when directing during the silent era. A wild slapstick opening, running gags, and musical numbers provide the fun.

MIDSUMMER MUSH

Another one of Charley Chase's best has him in charge of a scout troop. This is also one of Chase's best directed films, as his succession of shots for certain gag sequences are remarkable and effective. Betty Mack is his leading lady here, and will continue to be over several more of his comedies.

LUNCHEON AT TWELVE

The last film on the set is another exceptionally funny one. He is offered what seems to be a lofty interior decorating position, shows up to the home in a suit, and discovers he is merely to be a part of a house painting team. The scene where Charley and the others are painting a table was re-used five years later when Chase directed The Three Stooges in their Columbia short "Tassles in the Air."

Each of the shorts in this set has something special to offer, and all of them nicely represent Charley Chase as a master of screen comedy. Extras on the set include a four-reel Spanish version of the 1930 Chase two-reeler "Looser than Loose" (a short that appears on Volume One), a posters and stills gallery, and optional commentary on each short by the set's co-producer Richard M. Roberts.

As with Volume one, the sales of Volume Two will determine if there will be a third and (presumably) final volume gathering the remaining two-reelers Chase made for Hal Roach. So, it is most passionately recommended that fans, collectors, libraries, and research centers all purchase this magnificent set of comedies.

It can be purchased at this link: Charley Chase at Hal Roach - The Talkies - Volume 2 (1932-1933)

Here is my review of the first volume, which includes a link to purchase that set: Volume One