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Man Bites Lovebug (1937) - Charley Chase

(1/1)

Paul Pain:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029200/



So ends 1937, the year with the highest number of shorts starring Charley Chase.  His own series slows down for two years while he is busy and directing other short subjects, including Three Stooges and Andy Clyde shorts.

This another goofy domestic plot.  In short, Charley is a marital-help book author who is invited to test his own methods out on a failing marriage.  He is wonderfully hamfisted with his role in this one and delivers a fine performance.

Frank Lackteen is hilarious as the murderous butler.  He wields knives, guns, and rifles all with an amazing gleam in his eye as he is unaware of his boss's intentions.  Etta McDaniel is woefully underused in her few moments,

Mary Russell, in her only Columbia short and one of her final acting roles ever, does a greatjob with everything given to her.  John Murray is also solid as the husband.  It goes especially well with the opening scene.

Charley does very well in a role that requires him to at points be flirtatious, flippant, serious, and amicable.  We see good results when the writers are writing to the star's strengths.  The best moment though goes to when Charley opens the serving platter and falls on his back.

9/10 [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke]

metaldams:
Another short where I prefer the first half to the second - for the most part.  I like the beginning more because it is again a chance for Chase to get some acting chops in.  The on purpose ham fisted gestures, like the way his eyes light up when his back is against the wall and the vocal inflections Chase makes when pretend declaring his love for the wife are quite funny.  It’s acting that is uniquely Charley Chase and that’s why I enjoy it.  Once she’s onto the game, it turns into a typical jumbled triangle, complete with cliches like Charley accidentally under the bed - stuff we’ve seen a zillion times before and anyone can do.  OK entertainment, I suppose, but nothing special.  The last minute or so moves nicely when Frank Lackteen chases Chase (uh, no pun intended) around the house with a gun and leads outside to a confused Bud Jamison.  Just the change of scenery and the more upbeat physical comedy is a nice change of pace for my tastes from the past few minutes. 

Not a bad short, not an all time classic.

Umbrella Sam:
Not a huge fan of this one. There are some funny things in it, mostly Chase’s reactions, but this short just feels really uneven and kind of confusing. The whole “pretending to make someone jealous” plot point isn’t horrible, but it does seem pretty rushed; the husband should easily be able to tell that Chase is scared of the situation once the wife starts pretending, and even later, Chase and the husband just suddenly make up because they’re in the same fraternity. I’m also not all that fond of Frank Lackteen’s role either; I feel like he’s basically there for the simple reason that they thought John Murray would not be able to pull off the overly-jealous husband role. I feel like it was a wasted opportunity for Murray to bring something different to that type of role; THE BIG SQUIRT showed that he could pull off a dark sense of humor while also appearing cheerful at the same time, which just made it even funnier.

Again, it’s not a terrible short, but I didn’t really find myself laughing as much as usual, and found it a bit difficult to follow compared to most Chase shorts.

5 out of 10

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