While Charley Chase may not be as well remembered as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd or Laurel and Hardy, he is certainty not without his fans today. There are quite a few of my fellow silent film fans, whose eyes light up when talking about Chase's films. One viewing of one of his classic short subject perfectly show why his fans today, though not as numerous as Chaplin or Keaton fans, love Charley so much. These are fast paced and extremely funny movies that never fail to make me laugh each time I see them. This is why this month we are going to look at one of Charley Chase's many great comedies, Isn't Life Terrible.
Like most of Charley Chase's best silent films this one was directed by Leo McCarey. McCarey may be one of the finest directors in the history of Hollywood. He showed his comedic talents not only with not only Charley Chase, but also Laurel and Hardy (directing some of that team's best shorts as well), The Marx Brothers (he directed the infamous Duck Soup) and Harold Lloyd (He directed The Milky Way, one of Lloyd's best talkies). However his filmography includes much more than just this. He also directed such widely hailed classics as Make Way For Tomorrow, The Awful Truth, Love Affair, Going My Way, The Bells of St. Mary and An Affair to Remember. His short comedies with Charley Chase alone, show why he was a master director. The humor in this shorts comes fast and often, yet never seems to miss the mark. Isn't Life Terrible is a fantastic example of just this.
In this film Charley plays a hard working man with a wife (Katherine Grant) and daughter (Nancy McKee) who is looking forward to a camping vacation. However his wife talks him into them all going on a cruise. This doesn't work put well as soon their luggage falls into the ocean and they wind up with the wrong child (Dorothy Morrison (Younger sister of Our Gang's Ernie Morrison)). Things get worse when Charley learns that the ship is falling apart and becomes a nervous wreck.
There is so much I enjoy about this short. I love Charley's reactions to the ship falling apart. I also really enjoy seeing a young Oliver Hardy (credited here as "Babe" Hardy (Babe being his real life nickname)) in a very different role as the extremely lazy brother in law, who does nothing but get Charley into trouble. He (as he does in many of his early films) shows that he is adept at playing characters quite different from Ollie in the Laurel and Hardy films. My favorite bit of humor is that when they wind up with the wrong child, at first this kid follows them around, but soon becomes as good as a member of the family. Most of all though this is just an extremely funny short showing Charley Chase and Leo McCarey at their best.
Around the time of this short, Charley's co-star Katherine Grant signed a 5 year contract with Hal Roach. To read an article from Moving Picture World about this film click here.
In 1932 one could rent a 16mm version of this film to play on a home projector for $2.50. To see the advertisement click here. In 1936 it could be ordered for $2. To see that advertisement click here.
To see an original review of this film in Moving Picture World click here. Despite this film being a Hal Roach comedy, a review in Exhibitors World Herald refers to this as a Mack Sennett comedy, you can read this review by clicking here.
-Michael J. Ruhland
In this film Charley plays a hard working man with a wife (Katherine Grant) and daughter (Nancy McKee) who is looking forward to a camping vacation. However his wife talks him into them all going on a cruise. This doesn't work put well as soon their luggage falls into the ocean and they wind up with the wrong child (Dorothy Morrison (Younger sister of Our Gang's Ernie Morrison)). Things get worse when Charley learns that the ship is falling apart and becomes a nervous wreck.
There is so much I enjoy about this short. I love Charley's reactions to the ship falling apart. I also really enjoy seeing a young Oliver Hardy (credited here as "Babe" Hardy (Babe being his real life nickname)) in a very different role as the extremely lazy brother in law, who does nothing but get Charley into trouble. He (as he does in many of his early films) shows that he is adept at playing characters quite different from Ollie in the Laurel and Hardy films. My favorite bit of humor is that when they wind up with the wrong child, at first this kid follows them around, but soon becomes as good as a member of the family. Most of all though this is just an extremely funny short showing Charley Chase and Leo McCarey at their best.
Around the time of this short, Charley's co-star Katherine Grant signed a 5 year contract with Hal Roach. To read an article from Moving Picture World about this film click here.
In 1932 one could rent a 16mm version of this film to play on a home projector for $2.50. To see the advertisement click here. In 1936 it could be ordered for $2. To see that advertisement click here.
To see an original review of this film in Moving Picture World click here. Despite this film being a Hal Roach comedy, a review in Exhibitors World Herald refers to this as a Mack Sennett comedy, you can read this review by clicking here.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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