Cut to the Chase!

Distributed by Milestone Films & Video, PO Box 128, Harrington Park, NJ 07640-0128; 800-603-1104Producer n/aDirector n/a2011, DVD, color, 303 min. Cut to the Chase! The Charley Chase Collection showcases 303 minutes of 16 Charley Chase two-reelers from 1924 to 1926 on two discs. Among them is Mighty Like a Moose which was selected for the National Film Registry in 2007. We also see Fay Wray, who later found fame in the hands of King Kong, in very early supporting roles in What Price Goofy? and Isn’t Life Terrible?, which also features Oliver Hardy prior to his teaming with Stan Laurel. In addition, Hardy appears as the cab-driver in Bromo and Juliet and in Be Your Age. Great character actor Max Davidson appears in Long Fliv the King, while Bull Montana is in The Uneasy Three. Katherine Grant appears as leading lady in four of the shorts and Leo McCarey hones his skills on 12 of the 16 shorts prior to reining in the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup, and directing some of the best regarded films from the 1930s and 40s like The Awful Truth, The Bells of St. Mary’s and Going My Way. Thus, looking at all these shorts one has the opportunity to examine the early work of several actors and a director prior to fame. On the one hand we are watching two years of Charley Chase shorts and how he is being supported by actors whose later work is typically more familiar, and on the other how he spring-boarded careers for others. Two of the films, The Uneasy Three – a play on words on the title of a slightly earlier film, Tod Browning’s The Unholy Three, and Charley My Boy, are exclusive to this release. The collection itself is from the middle period of Chase’s work, where he has come into his own. He is slowly being recognized for the master comedian that he was and can easily stand alongside Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd for comedy that endures and is universally loved. His work is so much less ponderous than Harry Langdon’s who disintegrated into a sad doughy and ultimately pathetic rather than funny figure. This set will provide Chase fans with more (and new to DVD) to love while enabling those unfamiliar with his work to enjoy one of the most creative periods of his rather too short career. Highly recommended for film studies.