I’ve enjoyed all three one reelers so far but this one is the best of the three. Extremely well constructed for a film this length. It is pretty much a one gag film but the gag is milked for all it is worth and the storytelling is top notch. Charley fixes the slingshot for the kid - that comes into play later in the story. Charley talks to the jilted ex-lover of his fiancée - that comes into play later in the story. The whole car ride with the mayor, which is supposed to be an easy sale and take one minute, turns into him adding his wife to the ride, then the kids, then going a different route, then stopping somewhere, then the kid causing destruction - it all builds up perfectly, one inconvenience added at a time.
This is the first short directed by James Parrott, Charley’s brother. He will direct a lot of these until some dude named Leo McCarey joins the series.
