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His Bridal Fright (1940) - Charley Chase

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Paul Pain:


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032597/

Our journey through Charley Chase's Columbia oeuvre comes to an end.  Before this short was released, Charley Chase passed away from a heart attack.

Now, this short is a sad note on which to end our run.  Charley Chase, however, leaves us with a smile on our faces.  It was far from his best Columbia short, but it wasn't terrible.

The whole theme of Pidgemania and Bud Jamison's obsession with the stamp brings many crazy adventures, including a bizarre imprisonment scene reminiscent of TRICKY DICKS.  But Dudley Dickerson's Uncle Domenic...

The girl stereotypes are a bit bizarre, as is the fact that from one letter they all fall so passionately in love with him.  Um, you're in this book and probably get lots of letters, so why does he make you so love happy?  Before I digress...

The car scene is so cheap it's not funny.  That car barrels through that same corner 5 times, which is truly amazing,  It's almost as bad as the scene from COUNTY HOSPITAL.

One wouldn't really know from watching this that Charley was so close to the end, which goes to show how devastating and sudden heart attacks can be.  Eventually, I am sure, we will have more opportunities to discuss Charley's work.

Charley Chase truly was "a jolly good fellow."

7/10 [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke]

Dr. Mabuse:
Nice review.

"His Bridal Fright" remains an enjoyable Charley Chase two-reeler and one of his better Columbia efforts — a pity it was the great comedian's last film. I sometimes wonder how Charley would have fared in the Golden Age of Television when theatrical shorts were winding down.

7/10

metaldams:
Not a bad way at all for Charley to end his career.  With HIS BRIDAL FRIGHT, we get a peak 1940 Columbia short.  It’s too bad Charley didn’t live longer, as from a professional viewpoint, I think he would have had a few more years of entertaining shorts left in him.  The premise of this film is original (as far as I know) and certainly not cliche.  The whole idea of chasing the rare stamp, the bevy of mail order brides chasing him and the plain energy this short exudes is infectious.  Lots of scenery changes and outdoor settings - road chases, yard slapstick, a jail scene, the short just plain moves and Chase is high energy throughout.  The things I just mentioned are way more important than storyline for a Columbia short, as far as I’m concerned.

Of course, had Chase lived longer, he would have to reinvent himself, a problem Lloyd and Keaton also faced.  It had nothing to do with sound and everything to do with age.  Example, in HIS BRIDAL FRIGHT, Chases’s prospective father in law, Bud Jamison, is four months younger than Chase in real life.  Chaplin in his later works adjusted to his age properly, he’s the only one I can think of.

So yes, a fun short overall and a nice way to wrap things up with Charley.  Very sad he left us so soon, but he left us a legacy of entertaining two reelers that I’m still diving into.  Glad his stock has gone up with us fellow comedy nerds in the past few decades.

Umbrella Sam:
Not a bad way to go out, although I think the story certainly could have done with improvements. It certainly is funny throughout. Highlights for me included Chase’s head getting caught in the window at the beginning, the cop at the park feeding the pigeons, and Chase awkwardly getting out of the situation with the cop and the flat tire (which surprisingly works!). And even though it is obviously cheap, I even enjoy the car chase at the end.

The downside for me is that the story relies a lot on stereotypes. To be fair, I do enjoy the scenes in the jail when the other prisoners get irritated at Chase for the stereotypes, but there also are some moments that are kind of uncomfortable to watch, like Chase conning Dudley Dickerson out of the expensive stamp or the Arctic woman chewing the candle. Unfortunately, this is also pretty important to the story and the whole idea that Chase does it in the first place doesn’t make a ton of sense. Yes, I get he’s trying to start a stamp collection, but the one he needs is one that he knows he can’t get unless someone has a pigeon, and he doesn’t even get it as a result of his plan. I feel like this could have been handled a lot better.

Of course, the important thing here is how funny it is, and like I said, a lot of the humor is still pretty good. I would have liked to have seen less stereotypes, but, hey, that was the time and that’s unfortunately something we have to accept when watching films this old.

7 out of 10

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