I've seen quite a few Charlie Chase shorts--enough to know he's one of my favorites of the era for this type of movie. And, once again, I wasn't disappointed with this outing. Charlie is a rich guy who meets a cute girl. The girls' father wants her to marry an industrious man, so Charlie tries very hard to be helpful and not some rich loafer. First he and Eugene Palette help her deal with a sale at a department store where dozens of crazed women are behaving like banshees trying to get a great deal. I've actually seen this type of scene before in other shorts and it wasn't exactly inspired work. However, the movie definitely hit its stride when Charlie tries to help the girl's father recover an incriminating letter from the baddie, Oliver Hardy (who often played this type role before being paired with Stan Laurel). Among the many silly things Charlie does is have the girl's dad dress like a woman to infiltrate a club where Hardy is. When this doesn't work, he brings an inflatable girl and convincingly behaves as if she's real--this is very funny and exceptionally well-done. In the end, of course, Charlie saves the day and the movie fades out.
Review of Fluttering Hearts
