RSS
Home
Charley Chase’s silent comedies jump back to life on DVD
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
To my mind there are two kinds of people—those who love Charley Chase, and those who never heard of him. All Day Entertainment's Becoming Charley Chase, recently released by VCI Entertainment, is a 4-DVD box set affectionately put together by people who are clearly in the first category; it’s not the work of a soulless corporation trying to make a fast buck, like so many video releases these days.
This collection should do much to bolster the reputation of this most unjustly underrated comedian of the 1920s and ‘30s, perhaps best remembered now for an uproarious cameo in Laurel and Hardy’s Sons of the Desert. One disc is devoted to Chase’s embryonic 1915 work for Mack Sennett; two discs are comprised of 1924-1925 shorts made at Hal Roach Studios; and a fourth samples his efforts directing other comics, including his brother James Parrott (who himself directed many of Charley’s comedies, as well of some of Laurel and Hardy’s best), Will Rogers and Snub Pollard. Our Gang, whose earliest comedies Chase supervised as Director General at Roach, are seen as guest stars in The Fraidy Cat.
Even the Chase aficionado who has all or most of these 40-odd comedy shorts in 8mm, 16mm, Laserdisc or VHS will find the box hard to resist. There are new scores for all titles, with some highly entertaining and imaginative work by the Snark Ensemble, Ben Model, the Redwine Jazz Band, and the West End Jazz Band. There are also optional audio commentaries on all films by a gaggle of Chase historians and film scholars; a 45-minute documentary, The Parrott Chase; and an archival interview with Chase's daughter June.
The quality of the films is erratic but not for lack of effort; producer David Kalat notes how he acquired six prints of one especially poor-looking title, and choose the best of the lot. We’re fortunate so many of Chase’s silent shorts exist, as the tantalizing fragments of some lost ones remind us. The box’s missing booklet, a victim of the recession, can be downloaded here. A DVD set of his ‘30s Columbia shorts is in the works; meanwhile, for more on Charley visit the definitive website.
More from Jordan:
Show biz bookshelf: Harold Lloyd, Billie Burke
John Barrymore’s silent movies revived on DVD
Show biz bookshelf: sound shorts and more for movie crazy folks
Visit Jordan’s new website: actingsolo.com.
Follow me on twitter.
Like a heads up when I post a new article? Just click where it says "subscribe to email" at the top. (Not getting the emails? Keep in mind I post about 3-4 times a week). You can also share this article with your facebook / myspace friends by clicking—here’s where it gets tricky—“share this” below.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
