I'm through the first disc of the set. Here's a few spoiler free thoughts of my own:
The best shorts on disc one were YOUNG IRONSIDES, GIRL GRIEF and FIRST IN WAR (probably in that order). Young Ironsides is as good as good as any Chase short I've seen, just a terrific short from beginning to end. Heine Conklin stands out as the house detective. GIRL GRIEF has possibly the funniest single Chase sequence I've seen, a scene where he's conducting a class of girl singers and the school's principal is standing outside the room listening. The whole short is very high energy. FIRST IN WAR is a first-class military-themed short featuring great supporting turns from Luis Alberni, Billy Gilbert and Carlton Griffin. Military themed shorts aren't always my favorites but I liked this one quite a bit.
NOW WE'LL TELL ONE, MR. BRIDE, and IN WALKED CHARLEY were all solid offerings though a step below the three above. MR. BRIDE is certainly different - Charley goes on a honeymoon with another man so the other man can have a trial run for his own honeymoon. It's different but there's some humorous situations along the way. NOW WE'LL TELL ONE is a fun short with a sci-fi twist but some horribly blatant rear projection work. IN WALKED CHARLEY had an interesting premise - a man faking lunacy to avoid being left with his mother-in-law - and some interesting moments but I thought it was a little too drawn out.
THE NICKEL NURSER, the last Chase-Todd short, was somewhat of a disappointment. Not a bad short at all but I was expecting something better. Maybe a victim of high expectations. THE TABASCO KID was the weakest short on disc one by a fair margin for me. It struck me as overly bizarre and short on laughs and humor. Other people seem to really like it so your mileage might vary.
Overall, the hits far outweigh the misses so far.
