Selected Short Subject: Public Ghost #1 (1935)
Directed by Charley Chase. Cast: Charley Chase, Joyce Compton, Edwin Maxwell, Ray Turner, Clarence Wilson, Polly Chase, Ben Taggart. Released December 14, 1935. Two Reels.
Charley Chase's forte was less gag oriented and driven more by characters and situations. His use of gags was to creatively place them throughout his films in an effort to enhance the comic situation. In "Public Enemy #1" the characters are nicely drawn, there is a mistake identity theme, and Charley once again does a fine job playing fluttery embarrassment when he mistakes an escapee from the insane asylum for his new girlfriend's father. It is an idea he had used before in an earlier short, "Fast Work" (1931), but this one offers some haunted house gags. Because Charley Chase is a brilliant visual comic who responded well to comic situations, this gag-oriented comedy is a bit offbeat for his style.
An escaped lunatic is hit by a car driven by a businessman's chauffeur. He is given a ride as far as the office building where the businessman works. The businessman is the father of Joyce, a pretty girl whom Charley just met. He goes to the office where she works, hoping her boss/father will give him a job. He mistakes the lunatic for her father. The man hires Charley to haunt a house, which turns out to be the home where Joyce and her father live. When the lunatic joins Charley with the haunting, without telling him, Charley concludes the house actually is haunted.
The gags are funny, albeit rather mechanical, and the twist that Charley becomes another frightened victim is a neat twist. Joyce Compton is cute and bubbly as the girl, and Clarence Wilson is at his scowling best as her father. But it is Edwin Maxwell as the lunatic who comes off best, balancing between the crackpot he is and the stuffy businessman he pretends to be.
"Public Ghost #1" is a funny movie with a lot of good reactive comedy. But a comedian like Charley Chase is above relying on mechanical gags, so material that would work beautifully for The Three Stooges isn't quite as effective with Chase.
The film was quite popular with moviegoers with one theater exhibitor reporting to the trades: "A good Chase comedy -- ghost comedies always seem to draw the laughs." Another theater owner raved: "Really good slapstick comedy and your patrons will enjoy it." Still another commented: "One of the best Charley Chase comedies we have played. His comedies have not been good lately but this one got the laughs."
As horror comedies go, "Public Ghost #1" still works as an addition to a Halloween movie party. It is short, has some good laughs, and will break up a horror movie program nicely.