This is not really a review.
Not only is this not really a review, but at the time that I type this, the DVD has not even been released yet. It is just that Amazon has not provided a listing of the contents on this collection. I hope this is useful.
Man Bites Lovebug (1937) - Directed by Del Lord - Cast: Charley Chase, Mary Russell, Bud Jamison, Frank Lackteen, John T. Murray and Etta McDaniel.
The Mind Needer (1938) - Directed by Del Lord - Cast: Charley Chase, Ann Doran, Bess Flowers, Vernon Dent and John T. Murray.
The Chump Takes a Bump (1939) - Directed by Del Lord - Cast: Charley Chase, Ann Doran, Ruth Skinner, Bud Jamison, Richard Fiske, George Ovey, Stanley Brown and Dell Henderson.
Rattling Romeo (1939) - Directed by Del Lord - Cast: Charley Chase, Ann Doran, John Tyrrell, Ben Taggart, Richard Fiske, Harry Bernard, Brian O'Hara, Bud Jamison, Eva McKenzie, Chuck Callahan, Cy Schindell and Stanley Brown.
Skinny the Moocher (1939) - Directed by Del Lord...
Wonderful set of rare Columbia comedies in gorgeous quality. Vintage-comedy fans will enjoy these
This is the long-awaited set of two-reel comedies starring Charley Chase, probably the most underrated funnyman of the 1920s and 1930s. Chase specialized in the comedy of embarrassment; his screen character would become embroiled in a misunderstanding, and spend the rest of the film innocently but amusingly proceeding on the wrong assumption. This formula had served him well since the silent-movie days, and by 1938 -- when this set begins -- he adapted it to the faster-paced, slapstick-oriented comedy unit at Columbia Pictures. He starred in 20 comedy shorts for Columbia; this collection includes eight, plus one that he directed.
The director of most of these shorts is Mack Sennett/Three Stooges veteran Del Lord. Chase contributed some of the gags and even entire screenplays to the series, and both Lord and Chase reached back to their silent-era shorts for surefire comedy ideas. Through most of this set Charley is a victim of circumstance. His "reconditioned" car falls...
Outstanding Debut of Chase's Columbia Classics
First, let's get this out of the way: Charley Chase's Columbia shorts are not nearly as good as his comedies done for Hal Roach. BUT - Chase's Columbia shorts are prime examples of how a comedian working under one studio for nearly two decades is able to adapt himself to another studio with an entirely different style of comedy and picture making. At the time Chase was hired by Jules White, Columbia was the home of The Three Stooges, Andy Clyde, Collins and Kennedy, Walter Catlett (a casual contributor), Harry Langdon (another Roach veteran, as well as Mack Sennett) and try-out series such as Polly Moran, Guinn Williams and Franklin Pangborn. Chase was a double terror as he was a fine director as well as a seasoned comedian.
His first several shorts for Gower Gulch are not presented here. The cache begins with MAN BITES LOVE BUG and presents eight comedies made between 1937 and 1940, when Chase died of a heart attack at the age of 46 (alcohol had taken a deadly...
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