Charley Chase was directed by his brother, James Parrot in this pleasant little Hal Roach Studios short. James often directed Charley, and Charley himself directed a large number of films as well--all under his real name ('Charles Parrott'). While Charley appeared in well over 200 shorts (many of which were silents), he never starred in any feature-length films. However, today he's mostly forgotten even though he was well liked and famous in his day. Much of this might be because was working at the same studio as Laurel and Hardy as well as the Little Rascals and these teams tended to get better scripts and were the "glamour" stars with Roach. Despite this, Charley's films are still quite generally funny--though they vary tremendously in quality.
Here, Charley advertises that he'll do ANYTHING for $1000 and a rich family hires him to stop their beautiful but headstrong daughter from entering a beauty pageant. Her parents think this will harm their good name so Charely is sent to blunder into the competition to stop her. The problem is, he meets her on the train there and has no idea she is his quarry and eventually tells her why he's headed to the beach.
Along the way, there are the usual mix-ups and silliness you'd expect in a Chase film, though there were two scenes in particular that made me laugh. The first, one that humorless politically correct-types won't appreciate, is when he professes his affection for the girl as they enter a tunnel. When they re-emerge, Billy Gilbert has switched places with the lady and Gilbert's reaction to this profession of love is priceless and I laughed out loud. Also along much the same vein, I liked the scene where Charley lost his clothes and was forced to run around in drag (you just had to see it).
Overall, a slightly better than average film from Chase and one that will probably make you chuckle.
Here, Charley advertises that he'll do ANYTHING for $1000 and a rich family hires him to stop their beautiful but headstrong daughter from entering a beauty pageant. Her parents think this will harm their good name so Charely is sent to blunder into the competition to stop her. The problem is, he meets her on the train there and has no idea she is his quarry and eventually tells her why he's headed to the beach.
Along the way, there are the usual mix-ups and silliness you'd expect in a Chase film, though there were two scenes in particular that made me laugh. The first, one that humorless politically correct-types won't appreciate, is when he professes his affection for the girl as they enter a tunnel. When they re-emerge, Billy Gilbert has switched places with the lady and Gilbert's reaction to this profession of love is priceless and I laughed out loud. Also along much the same vein, I liked the scene where Charley lost his clothes and was forced to run around in drag (you just had to see it).
Overall, a slightly better than average film from Chase and one that will probably make you chuckle.