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The Grand Hooter (1937) - Charley Chase

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metaldams:

--- Quote from: Paul Pain on May 23, 2020, 08:21:18 PM ---While normally long domestic chases normally bore me as well, I liked this one.  There were some unique moments, like Charley hiding above shower curtain rod, the room service man flipping 180 and the platter staying intact, and the moment when Charley opens the door into that poor bystander, who handles the scene perfectly.

--- End quote ---

I made sure to watch this back to back with the Shemp version and yeah, Chase hiding on top of the shower curtain was exclusive to that and a cool moment, agreed.  Those other moments are good too.  I’ve seen worse shorts by far and Chase (and Shemp) make this more tolerable than if it were some lesser comedian - it’s just this type of comedy rarely does it for me.  Hey, for people who like this kind of thing, one can do much worse.

Gotta say, Peggy Stratford is one of those Columbia players that make me wonder why she never worked with The Three Stooges.

metaldams:

--- Quote from: Paul Pain on May 23, 2020, 08:24:07 PM ---Indeed.  3 DUMB CLUCKS was filmed Feb. 1 to Feb. 5 in 1937, and THE GRAND HOOTER was filmed Feb. 18 to Feb. 22 of the same year.

--- End quote ---

Where did you get the filming dates?

....for the Chase short, I mean.

Paul Pain:

--- Quote from: metaldams on May 23, 2020, 08:30:53 PM ---Where did you get the filming dates?

....for the Chase short, I mean.

--- End quote ---

I did a Google search and found a snippet from a book on Chase's sound shorts, and it included production dates in the write-up.

Umbrella Sam:
Overall, this was a decent short. I like the gag near the beginning where Chase starts marching while the music is playing, and I do like most of the chase towards the end, especially when Peggy Stratford is chopping down the pole Chase is stuck at the top of. Chase’s song is entertaining as well. Normally I’m not a huge fan of drag comedy and I don’t exactly consider this to be a particularly good use of it either, but I did think it was kind of clever how they had to have him try and hide his mustache to avoid giving himself away.

The bad part, like Paul says, is that the plot is pretty weak. I wouldn’t mind so much except they devote so much time to setting it up and it diverts into chaos that is only resolved through a running gag that I don’t find to be all that funny. Yeah, I get that it is meant to get the wife angry enough to the point that she breaks and chases him, and I do think the payoff is funny. But it takes so long to set up that the whole middle of the film, with the exception of Chase’s song, really drags. Yeah, there are a few gags in there, but none that left an impression on me.

To its credit, this does at least seem like the type of short Chase might have done at Roach, which does make it stand out from most of Columbia’s non-Stooges output.

7 out of 10

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