This runs close to 24 minutes so you may not want to watch it, now or ever. It's a silent comedy starring one of my favorite comedians of the era, Charley Chase. Chase (real name: Charles Parrott) was either a director who performed or a performer who directed…and once in a while, he even directed himself. His films were generally quite funny. He tended to emphasize character over slapstick and to be very, very good at the comedy of embarrassment. His silent two-reelers (done for the Hal Roach Studio, beginning in 1923) were popular and then when sound came in, he was one of the few comics to seamlessly make the transition to talkies.
What did him in was when Roach abandoned two-reelers and shifted over to features. Chase shifted over to Columbia in 1937 where he continued making short films and also directed some of the Three Stooges' better shorts. He died in 1940 at the age of 46, whereupon his films were largely and unjustly forgotten. Among old comedy film buffs though, he is much loved and collected. This film may show you why.
It's Crazy Like a Fox, made in 1926. It was written by Chase (with title cards by H.M. "Beanie" Walker) and directed by Leo McCarey, who would later become a pretty important director. If you look fast, you may spot Oliver Hardy in a small part done shortly before he teamed up with that Laurel guy. This was the first Charley Chase film I ever saw…many moons ago at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax here in Los Angeles. It made me an instant fan of his. Maybe it'll have the same effect on you.
