Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews

The Big Squirt (1937 - Charley Chase

(1/1)

Paul Pain:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028630/



We have hit our first speed bump in the Charley Chase Columbia set.  THE BIG SQUIRT has nothing to do with modern perverted meanings of that word, but it's about as funny as it in stretches.

Honestly, it's a short with a lot of potential, but when the comic highlights are the jokes with Charley not looking and perfectly making the customer's orders and his mother-in-law reading the magazines, you're in for a long short.  Other better moments included his soda jerk song while playing blind and the way he and Bud Jamison casually chat while the sprinkler is spraying in their faces.  With the opening two minutes, I really was expecting a one set short, no need for a wife or mother-in-law, and a crazy food fight ending. 

Somewhere in this is Charley's daughter, Polly!

Ironically, this short was co-produced by... Charley Chase.

8/10 [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke]

metaldams:
Paul, the title of the short gets even crazier in modern parlance if you realize there is a female thespian of a certain genre named Charley Chase. So combine her with the title.   I found this out about ten years ago doing a Google search for the comic - while at work.  Doh!  I made sure future searches had “Hal Roach” or “Columbia” after his name.

I do have to disagree, I think this is the best short yet.  It’s obvious more care went into this one and perhaps having a producer who really cares  had something to do with it.   [pie] Well, from a production point of view, we open with a mini montage, get multiple different settings, both indoors and outdoors and even a really fun musical number with Chase as a blind man.  The wanna be super sleuth of Charley and the mother in law catching the criminal to Charley’s chagrin is a nice little theme and the interplay between Charley Chase and Bud Jamison is fantastic throughout.  Two comic veterans at this point  and any fan of Bud, in addition to Charley, should check this one out.  Also, I swear when Charley was out of the trolley in the middle of the street, they were aiming for a mini Laurel and Hardy theme.  Fun short all around that moves briskly and offers plenty of scenic variety for a two reeler.

Paul Pain:

--- Quote from: metaldams on June 25, 2020, 08:22:40 PM ---Paul, the title of the short gets even crazier in modern parlance if you realize there is a female thespian of a certain genre named Charley Chase. So combine her with the title.   I found this out about ten years ago doing a Google search for the comic - while at work.  Doh!  I made sure future searches had “Hal Roach” or “Columbia” after his name.

I do have to disagree, I think this is the best short yet.  It’s obvious more care went into this one and perhaps having a producer who really cares  had something to do with it.   [pie] Well, from a production point of view, we open with a mini montage, get multiple different settings, both indoors and outdoors and even a really fun musical number with Chase as a blind man.  The wanna be super sleuth of Charley and the mother in law catching the criminal to Charley’s chagrin is a nice little theme and the interplay between Charley Chase and Bud Jamison is fantastic throughout.  Two comic veterans at this point  and any fan of Bud, in addition to Charley, should check this one out.  Also, I swear when Charley was out of the trolley in the middle of the street, they were aiming for a mini Laurel and Hardy theme.  Fun short all around that moves briskly and offers plenty of scenic variety for a two reeler.

--- End quote ---

I would say that actress is far from a thespian in the sense we think here at Moronika.  We made the same mistake and likewise adjusted similarly.

While I may have been harsh in my rating (and have adjusted accordingly), I still say we must agree to disagree because I think we have seen better from Charley before this, but yes the settings have indeed wildly changed from previous outings, with the domestic angle here just being a simple plot device and not the focus.

Paul Pain:
For the record, I made a typo in the thread title; I didn't edit any of metaldams' content. [pie]

Umbrella Sam:
Well, the beginning at the soda shop is a bit slow, although it does also contain my favorite gag: when Chase secretly gives the extra ice cream to the customer for laughing at his mother-in-law. It’s one of those blink and you’ll miss it moments that works so well because of how subtle it is. After that, the short stays pretty funny for the most part. Other highlights include Chase’s way of escaping from Bud Jamison (which feels like a Buster Keaton-type gag), when Chase and Bud Jamison are planning together while the sprinklers are on, and Chase annoying the criminal towards the end. There’s a lot of funny stuff throughout, and it is all based around an interesting idea. Also, as usual, Chase does a pretty fun musical number.

The only thing that I hate about it is the really rushed ending. It’s not just rushed; it makes no sense. First of all, Chase is clearly the one holding off the crook with his foot, so how come the officer just assumes that the mother-in-law caught him? Yes, she did have a huge hand in the capture, but there’s no way the officer would have known that. And while the officer did warn Chase about the possibility of getting a sentence for being a fake, it doesn’t make much sense why Bud Jamison is so happy to make Chase serve that sentence, especially since it was a way to get the criminal that did partially work (if Chase hadn’t been there to annoy him, then the guy probably wouldn’t have run into the mother-in-law).

So, overall, a pretty good short that just happens to be bookended by a slow start and a horrible ending.

8 out of 10

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